Really?? How do you know that I am not the kind of person who likes to pee in Listerine or wipe poop on your spinach!? Worse, maybe I like to replace the lock to your front door with one that is identical, but accepts your key and mine. The point is, you have no idea of what actions I took while in your house... which is why you locked the front door in the first place I assume. Of course you should be angry at a breach in your security... regardless of if I told you how I did it. Maybe I left something out of my unsolicited report?
Nitpicking... let's change the analogy slightly to make it a little more appropriate. I am allowed to walk into my local branch of bank X. Of course I am allowed to access the _public_ areas of that branch, namely the lobbey. If notice that every Thursday at 1pm there is only one employee and he is asleep and I tell the bank merely from my observations walking around the lobbey, I have done nothing wrong. I am NOT however allowed to pick the lock into the manager's office, a _restricted_ area, and look around. Maybe take a picture of the vault combo, etc... unauthorized access to private and/or sensitive data where a clear preventative measure is in place, is and should be illegal. It is of course in the bank's interest to use better security, but this guy has no business breaking it without being asked first.
Didn't Von Neumann prove that the double helix structure was the optimal way to store information of this sort (it's been a while, but if memory serves then this proof came out just _before_ Watson and Crick published their graduate student's data). So logically then, wouldn't all life be based on _some_ sort of double helix configuration?
Just as a minor correction... the volt is no longer defined in terms of the kg. The international definition of 1 Volt is now defined in terms of the "Josephson Effect" and is an effect observed in superconducting materials that are interupted by a normal metal.
It turns out, that even without an applied voltage, there is still a current in the system, and after a voltage is applied, the current oscillates at a very predicable rate. Thus, the volt is now defined as the potential required to give a specific number of current osciallations in a Josephson Junction.
Just one comment here... while I agree that there is no "right" that says "Thou shall not to be logged when you visit my site" (the equivalent would be someone writing down the names of every person who entered their home), rights in general are _not_ granted by the government. The Constitution takes the position that certain rights are inalienable and it's the governments job to protect, not grant, our freedoms. Unfortunately, 9/11 has granted free reign to the other line of thought.
The Trinix distribution seems like a powerful way to do this also. The homepage is hear
Trinix
It is intended as a network analysis tool, but it is has all the cool features (OpenSource, runs entirely in RAM, floopy boot, etc...). I've havn't tried it yet myself as I am currently running the LRP distro without a problem.
I too deal with security by trade, and as such try to pick my words carefully (admittedly my typing is terrible), but you should be careful about the things your saying. Some of them are true, but some them are nonsense.
The theoretical ramifications of quantum computers have been well-known for many years now, and there's been a lot of good academic research on exactly what quantum computers are capable of.
True. BUT, performance predictions almost always underestimate human ingenuity. Can anyone really say they saw Moore's Law coming... no. In truth, the amount of research performed in this area has been relatively small (compared to the research put into silicon for example). There are many parallel algorithms yet to come, and its very possible factorization problems will turn into easy problems.
Put bluntly, using quantum computers you can manage to cut the keyspace by an exponential factor of.5--that is to say, a keyspace of 1,000,000 elements gets pulled down to 1,000 elements. Put bluntly, using quantum computers you can manage to cut the keyspace by an exponential factor of.5--that is to say, a keyspace of 1,000,000 elements gets pulled down to 1,000 elements. This sounds like a lot, and it is; being able to take the root of the keyspace is a big achievement for some sorts of computation. Crypto is not necessarily one of them.
??? There are a couple things that are not clear to me here. 1) Where are you getting these numbers!? Technically, quantum computers do NOTHING to size of the keyspace. They alter the amount you have to search, but there is no reason why that number is limited to an exponential of 1/2! Assuming your number refers to the current factorization algorithm, it is only one of more to come. Plus, changing a O(N2) algorithm to a O(N) one is a huge achievment for any computation, and since you're talking about keyspace, crypto is by definition one of them.
Am I concerned for what quantum tech will do to crypto? Yes. Am I shaking in my boots over it? Not hardly.
As a _paranoid_ security professional, you of all people should beware of overconfident statements like the above.
First we need to make the distinction between _quantum_ and parallel. Certain phenomenon in nature exist on in discrete packets or _quanta_. Things on a subatomic level demonstrate these properties and are studied as quantum mechanics. An alogrithm cannot be quantum. An algorithm cna be massively parallel. As it turns out, massively parallel algorithm can be executed _very_ rapidly using the quantum mechanical properties seen in nature. Thus the big push in quantum computing. There are two main approches currently being pursued, each has their limits. The first in on the atomic level. The first using atomic magnetic propoerties in a magnetic field to make measurements (this is traditional "coffee cup" model). The current limitation is that the quantum mechanical properties begin to break break down at qubit sizes larger than around 15. This is a physical limitation and there is no current solution. The second approach is molecule clusters in some superconducting materials have been shown to demonstrate quantum properties. The limitations here are that we don't understand these systems very well yet. If research ever breaks through in quantum computing (it may, it may not), it will have a tremendous impact on everything from the military to e-commerce. This is because on the parallel algorithms that can be used in prime factorization (one of the key steps in breaking encryption.) If quantum computers ever come to the forfront, security as we know it today will be a thing of the past...
This virus is actually a little older than the ILOVEYOU virus and only shares the Outlook proagation technique. It is pretty cleverly written to encrypt / decrypt itself through multiple layers.
The major problem here that for every one good idead that might have come from one good SF book, there are approximately a gillion bad ones. You can't say that SF writers are he real genius of science, when they just run the whole gambit of new ideas. Even a blind squirrel finds a nut every once and a while.
Plus, there's a HUGE difference between thinking something might be cool and writing a story about how people handle it, and exploring the unknown to actually invent that thing. Let's leave the credit right where it belongs, with the scientists.
Slashdot Mirror
Really?? How do you know that I am not the kind of person who likes to pee in Listerine or wipe poop on your spinach!? Worse, maybe I like to replace the lock to your front door with one that is identical, but accepts your key and mine. The point is, you have no idea of what actions I took while in your house ... which is why you locked the front door in the first place I assume. Of course you should be angry at a breach in your security ... regardless of if I told you how I did it. Maybe I left something out of my unsolicited report?
Nitpicking ... let's change the analogy slightly to make it a little more appropriate. I am allowed to walk into my local branch of bank X. Of course I am allowed to access the _public_ areas of that branch, namely the lobbey. If notice that every Thursday at 1pm there is only one employee and he is asleep and I tell the bank merely from my observations walking around the lobbey, I have done nothing wrong. I am NOT however allowed to pick the lock into the manager's office, a _restricted_ area, and look around. Maybe take a picture of the vault combo, etc ... unauthorized access to private and/or sensitive data where a clear preventative measure is in place, is and should be illegal. It is of course in the bank's interest to use better security, but this guy has no business breaking it without being asked first.
Didn't Von Neumann prove that the double helix structure was the optimal way to store information of this sort (it's been a while, but if memory serves then this proof came out just _before_ Watson and Crick published their graduate student's data). So logically then, wouldn't all life be based on _some_ sort of double helix configuration?
Just as a minor correction ... the volt is no longer defined in terms of the kg. The international definition of 1 Volt is now defined in terms of the "Josephson Effect" and is an effect observed in superconducting materials that are interupted by a normal metal.
It turns out, that even without an applied voltage, there is still a current in the system, and after a voltage is applied, the current oscillates at a very predicable rate. Thus, the volt is now defined as the potential required to give a specific number of current osciallations in a Josephson Junction.
Nit-pickey I know, but maybe of interest.
Just one comment here ... while I agree that there is no "right" that says "Thou shall not to be logged when you visit my site" (the equivalent would be someone writing down the names of every person who entered their home), rights in general are _not_ granted by the government. The Constitution takes the position that certain rights are inalienable and it's the governments job to protect, not grant, our freedoms. Unfortunately, 9/11 has granted free reign to the other line of thought.
The Trinix distribution seems like a powerful way to do this also. The homepage is hear ...). I've havn't tried it yet myself as I am currently running the LRP distro without a problem.
Trinix
It is intended as a network analysis tool, but it is has all the cool features (OpenSource, runs entirely in RAM, floopy boot, etc
The theoretical ramifications of quantum computers have been well-known for many years now, and there's been a lot of good academic research on exactly what quantum computers are capable of.
True. BUT, performance predictions almost always underestimate human ingenuity. Can anyone really say they saw Moore's Law coming ... no. In truth, the amount of research performed in this area has been relatively small (compared to the research put into silicon for example). There are many parallel algorithms yet to come, and its very possible factorization problems will turn into easy problems.
Put bluntly, using quantum computers you can manage to cut the keyspace by an exponential factor of .5--that is to say, a keyspace of 1,000,000 elements gets pulled down to 1,000 elements. Put bluntly, using quantum computers you can manage to cut the keyspace by an exponential factor of .5--that is to say, a keyspace of 1,000,000 elements gets pulled down to 1,000 elements. This sounds like a lot, and it is; being able to take the root of the keyspace is a big achievement for some sorts of computation. Crypto is not necessarily one of them.
??? There are a couple things that are not clear to me here. 1) Where are you getting these numbers!? Technically, quantum computers do NOTHING to size of the keyspace. They alter the amount you have to search, but there is no reason why that number is limited to an exponential of 1/2! Assuming your number refers to the current factorization algorithm, it is only one of more to come. Plus, changing a O(N2) algorithm to a O(N) one is a huge achievment for any computation, and since you're talking about keyspace, crypto is by definition one of them.
Am I concerned for what quantum tech will do to crypto? Yes. Am I shaking in my boots over it? Not hardly.
As a _paranoid_ security professional, you of all people should beware of overconfident statements like the above.
First we need to make the distinction between _quantum_ and parallel. Certain phenomenon in nature exist on in discrete packets or _quanta_. Things on a subatomic level demonstrate these properties and are studied as quantum mechanics. An alogrithm cannot be quantum. An algorithm cna be massively parallel. As it turns out, massively parallel algorithm can be executed _very_ rapidly using the quantum mechanical properties seen in nature. Thus the big push in quantum computing. There are two main approches currently being pursued, each has their limits. The first in on the atomic level. The first using atomic magnetic propoerties in a magnetic field to make measurements (this is traditional "coffee cup" model). The current limitation is that the quantum mechanical properties begin to break break down at qubit sizes larger than around 15. This is a physical limitation and there is no current solution. The second approach is molecule clusters in some superconducting materials have been shown to demonstrate quantum properties. The limitations here are that we don't understand these systems very well yet. If research ever breaks through in quantum computing (it may, it may not), it will have a tremendous impact on everything from the military to e-commerce. This is because on the parallel algorithms that can be used in prime factorization (one of the key steps in breaking encryption.) If quantum computers ever come to the forfront, security as we know it today will be a thing of the past...
This virus is actually a little older than the ILOVEYOU virus and only shares the Outlook proagation technique. It is pretty cleverly written to encrypt / decrypt itself through multiple layers.
The major problem here that for every one good
idead that might have come from one good SF book, there are approximately a gillion bad ones. You can't say that SF writers are he real genius of science, when they just run the whole gambit of new ideas. Even a blind squirrel finds a nut every once and a while.
Plus, there's a HUGE difference between thinking something might be cool and writing a story about how people handle it, and exploring the unknown to actually invent that thing. Let's leave the credit right where it belongs, with the scientists.
Does anybody know where a good-hearted Linux user can get a copy of WIN-BUGSFIX.EXE?