Encryption Promises Unbreakable Codes

AP ^ | Nov. 16, 2003 | BRIAN BERGSTEIN

[Prof Engineer]

ping

[LibWhacker]

In some super-high-security settings, people sharing passwords and other information must have the same key . . .

WRONG! The AP screws up again.

[Allan]

Ping

[per loin]

"There are really no ways (of) cracking this code," said Lov Grover, a quantum computing researcher at Bell Laboratories who is not involved with MagiQ.

Silently, the cracker smirks, and begins his work.

[RiflemanSharpe]

Any guesses on how long it will be before someone breaks these codes. If you build a better mouse trap the world builds a better mouse. All codes are breakable.

[don'tbedenied]

Not Enigma!

Herman Goering

[glorgau]

They won't be broken until new laws of the physical universe are discovered. Quantum mechanics has been verified to exacting detail.

[taxcontrol]

The weakest point of any, and I do mean ANY encryption scheme is the humans at each end.

Enigma was broken because the transmission format used by the Germans had each station use their 3 digit call sign to start the message.

[whattajoke]

Sigh. The title should be:

"Cracker and Hackers Rejoice, something new to figure out! first one wins a prize!"

[jpl]

Any encryption key that is used more than once is breakable, without exception. It could take an extremely long time to get broken, but it is doable.

[epluribus_2]

uh - silently the NSA smirks because they know the backdoors to anything like this in case it becomes a Tool for Allah.

[r9etb]

Photons, discrete particles of energy, are so sensitive that if anyone tries to spy on their travel from one point to another, their behavior will change, tipping off the sender and recipient and invalidating the stolen code.

OK.... So basically they're claiming that if I put a splitter in the line, and hook up the alternate line to my stolen box, the photon will be altered and I can't read the message? Somehow I doubt it.

Also, any fiber-optic line losses would undoubtedly include the occasional encryption photon -- so clearly there's gonna have to be some sort of error detection/correction algorithm involved.

(sniff sniff) Is that marketing I smell....?

[harpseal]

I note that this seems to rely on the fact that any attempt to copy a message will destroy the message to the originally designated recipient. Thus the seemingly best strategy is to intercept and make to copies doing a retransmission to the original designated recipient.

[stainlessbanner]

Same public key, not private key.

[mtbopfuyn]

Man made it, man can crack it.

[yevgenie]

The theory follows the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle. Of course, adding relay points along the way can interrupt signals. Also, as any computer hacker can tell you, social engineering and compromising the box are methods that work quite well.
So what if you can't listen-in on the conversation. Attack the end point boxes and you should get plain-text copy. Also, exploit the fragility of the system by purposely messing with it so that it becomes "unreliable". If you can consistently or even inconsistently disrupt the "secure" channel, then the black boxes become unreliable and will need to be replaced.

[Libertarianize the GOP]

ping

[ASA Vet]

There have always been unbreakable codes, and 98C T9's to break them.

[ASA Vet]

There is No Such Agency.