[47332] in Cypherpunks
Re: pgp broken?
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Perry E. Metzger)
Tue Jan 16 19:30:01 1996
To: pitz@onetouch.com
Cc: cypherpunks@toad.com
In-Reply-To: Your message of "Tue, 16 Jan 1996 15:45:44."
<9601162346.AA22192@toad.com>
Reply-To: perry@piermont.com
Date: Tue, 16 Jan 1996 18:59:42 -0500
From: "Perry E. Metzger" <perry@piermont.com>
"greg pitz" writes:
> In speaking with an associate, he mentioned in passing that PGP had
> been broken a few weeks ago in San Diego by the DoD using a Cray.
> All questioning about said subject was ended immediately as he felt
> that he might have said too much how it was. Was PGP "broken"?
How could you break "PGP" per se using lots of computer power? Its an
encryption system, not a particular key. What would the Cray have been
doing? Running an AI program trying to come up with new factoring
algorithms?
Now, I could believe that someone could break PGP -- perhaps by
finding some weakness in the implementation of RSA, or the RNG, or
maybe even a weakness in RSA itself. However, I have a great deal of
trouble believing that PGP *itself* was broken "using a Cray". If it
is going to be broken, it will be done using a few pounds of neurons
fed by a blood supply (at least until real AIs are out there
publishing math papers).
> Could this be part of the reason the charges were dropped against
> Phil as well?
I doubt it. The statute of limitations was going to expire soon in any
case.
Perry
