Re: ECDL

Rohit Khare (rohit@uci.edu)
Mon, 30 Aug 1999 15:14:00 -0700


At 2:30 PM -0700 8/30/99, Eugene Leitl wrote:
>Brute-force cracking of crypto? Why, on earth? There are certainly
>more wortwhile reasons to burn cycles on.

Wrong. Compared to the miniscule odds of SETI@home, crypto challenges
*change policy now*. In this case, establishing the security of a new
cryptosystem -- elliptical curve -- is an essential social good. In a
world dominated by only a few -- or one -- public key cryptosystem,
we are risking our futures on a single point of failure.

Just like the DES Cracker proving once and for all that DES-56 is
inadequate, Rob's work will have repurcussions.

Run it or don't, that's your choice. I'm just layin' the smack down,
as Tim would say.

Rohit