Slashdot Mirror
New Vista Random Numbers to Include NSA Backdoor?
Schneier is reporting that Microsoft has added the new Dual_EC-DRBG random-number generator to Vista SP1. This random-number generator is the same one discussed earlier that may have a secret NSA backdoor built into it.
Insane - I know, they must be "out to get us".
"Wait... couldn't you just add something to the random number? Or perhaps shift the digits over?"
You can do what TFA said:
"It's possible to implement Dual_EC_DRBG in such a way as to protect it against this backdoor, by generating new constants with another secure random-number generator and then publishing the seed. This method is even in the NIST document, in Appendix A."
Supporting Information from Original Author:
|Cryptanalytic Attacks on Pseudorandom Number Generators
J. Kelsey, B. Schneier, D. Wagner, and C. Hall
Fast Software Encryption, Fifth International Workshop Proceedings (March 1998), Springer-Verlag, 1998, pp. 168-188.
ABSTRACT: In this paper we discuss PRNGs: the mechanisms used by real-world secure systems to generate cryptographic keys, initialization vectors, "random" nonces, and other values assumed to be random. We argue that PRNGs are their own unique type of cryptographic primitive, and should be analyzed as such. We propose a model for PRNGs, discuss possible attacks against this model, and demonstrate the applicability of this model (and our attacks) to four real-world PRNGs. We close with a discussion of lessons learned about PRNG design and use, and a few open questions. | http://www.schneier.com/paper-prngs.html
If you have been keeping up with computer security, everyone should be aware of the weakness of Random Number generators and it's vast effects over large sections of the computer world. This is not trivial...
Germany invented the car.
An automobile powered by an Otto gasoline engine was built in Mannheim, Germany by Karl Benz in 1885 and granted a patent in January of the following year under the auspices of his major company, Benz & Cie. which was founded in 1883.
Although several other German engineers (including Gottlieb Daimler, Wilhelm Maybach, and Siegfried Marcus) were working on the problem at about the same time, Karl Benz is generally acknowledged as the inventor of the modern automobile.[5] In 1879 Benz was granted a patent for his first engine, designed in 1878. Many of his other inventions made the use of the internal combustion engine feasible for powering a vehicle and in 1896, Benz designed and patented the first internal combustion flat engine.
Approximately 25 Benz vehicles were built and sold before 1893, when his first four-wheeler was introduced. They were powered with four-stroke engines of his own design. Emile Roger of France, already producing Benz engines under license, now added the Benz automobile to his line of products. Because France was more open to the early automobiles, more were built and sold in France through Roger than Benz sold in Germany.
Daimler and Maybach founded Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft (Daimler Motor Company, DMG) in Cannstatt in 1890 and under the brand name, Daimler, sold their first automobile in 1892. By 1895 about 30 vehicles had been built by Daimler and Maybach, either at the Daimler works or in the Hotel Hermann, where they set up shop after falling out with their backers. Benz and Daimler seem to have been unaware of each other's early work and worked independently.
Daimler died in 1900 and later that year, Maybach designed a model named Daimler-Mercedes, special-ordered by Emil Jellinek. Two years later, a new model DMG automobile was produced and named Mercedes after the engine. Maybach quit DMG shortly thereafter and opened a business of his own. Rights to the Daimler brand name were sold to other manufacturers.
Karl Benz proposed co-operation between DMG and Benz & Cie. when economic conditions began to deteriorate in Germany following the First World War, but the directors of DMG refused to consider it initially. Negotiations between the two companies resumed several years later and in 1924 they signed an Agreement of Mutual Interest valid until the year 2000. Both enterprises standardized design, production, purchasing, sales, and advertising--marketing their automobile models jointly--although keeping their respective brands. On June 28, 1926, Benz & Cie. and DMG finally merged as the Daimler-Benz company, baptizing all of its automobiles Mercedes Benz honoring the most important model of the DMG automobiles, the Maybach design later referred to as the 1902 Mercedes-35hp, along with the Benz name. Karl Benz remained a member of the board of directors of Daimler-Benz until his death in 1929.
Telephone was the culmination of the work of several people, and so the nationality of the inventor is in dispute. Bell did most of his work on the telephone in Canada.
The first computer was a German invention (Konrad Zuse's Z3 in 1941).
The first automobile was a French invention (1881).
The light bulb had already been invented by several people, mostly European, before Edison perfected it.
The pursuit of absolute tolerance leads to the most rigorous and ludicrous intolerance. - REX MURPHY
Bzzzt, wrong! Even though he is dead, his guy: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Konrad_Zuse would argue with that.
Wait another dead guy wants a chat - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Benz - says he invented the automobile.Um, better check your's again, I think its a bit dim if not burnt out. If you refer to Edison, he was not even close to the first to demonstrate what is now known as the incandescent light bulb. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lightbulb
Well, 2 out of 5 ain't bad right? Well, the telephone is not a sure thing, so lets make it 1.5.
Going on means going far
Going far means returning