[42137] in Cypherpunks
Mondex flaws? Re: Mark Twain Bank (was: Anonymity: A Modest Proposal)
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (hallam@w3.org)
Tue Oct 24 10:40:59 1995
To: cman@communities.com (Douglas Barnes), cypherpunks@toad.com
Cc: hallam@w3.org
In-Reply-To: Your message of "Mon, 23 Oct 95 18:03:38 -0800."
<v02120d07acb1f3d69b57@[199.2.22.120]>
Date: Tue, 24 Oct 95 10:33:00 -0400
From: hallam@w3.org
Hi,
You mention architectural problems in Mondex. Do you have any hard info
on the specs? I'm trying to find someone who does who is willing/able to talk.
One thing that struck me was that each Mondi would need to have both the
secret and public parts of a public key incorporated (if thats what they are
doing) hence what is the advantage of public key? Yet they have an on chip
modular exponentiation device on the new silicon rev...
Looking at the secrecy stuff on Mondex, I suspect I would take the same
approach, not to protect the core protection but so as to permit a gradual
approach to penetration detection. I would expect some type of tripwire to be
built into the device such that a fraud attempt apparently succeeds but
indicates that there is a problem.
Phill
