Deschall Fwd: WE FOUND IT!

[Robert Hettinga <rah@shipwright.com>]

--- begin forwarded text


Mime-Version: 1.0
Date: Wed, 18 Jun 1997 17:01:16 -0400
To: dcsb@ai.mit.edu
From: Kent Borg <kentborg@borg.org>
Subject: Deschall Fwd: WE FOUND IT!
Sender: bounce-dcsb@ai.mit.edu
Precedence: bulk
Reply-To: Kent Borg <kentborg@borg.org>

56-bit DES has now been publicly cracked!  In a chaotic volunteer effort,
no less.  Cool!

-kb, the Kent who's Macintosh searched quite a few billion keys, but did
not find it.


<< start of forwarded material >>

 ** Date: Wed, 18 Jun 1997 13:46:19 -0600
 ** From: Rocke Verser <rcv@dopey.verser.frii.com>
 ** To: deschall-announce@gatekeeper.megasoft.com
 ** Subject:  WE FOUND IT!
 ** Sender: owner-deschall-announce@gatekeeper.megasoft.com
 ** Precedence: bulk
 **
 ** -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
 **
 **         "Strong cryptography makes the world a safer place."
 **
 ** That's the message RSA has been waiting for us to decipher.
 ** And we did it!
 **
 ** The correct key (8558891AB0C851B6) was reported to RSA Data Security
 ** shortly before midnight last night (Mountain Time).  RSA's automated
 ** server acknowledged our win!
 **
 ** The winning computer is a Pentium 90MHz, operated by iNetZ Corporation
 ** of Salt Lake City, Utah.  Their employee, Michael K. Sanders, was the
 ** individual who was running the DESCHALL client.
 **
 ** Congratulations, Michael.  And congratulations to all who participated!
 **
 **
 ** Many thanks are due, all around.
 **
 ** Special thanks to Justin Dolske and Matt Curtin, who took enormous
 ** pressure off of me, early in the project; and who have kept the client
 ** archives, mailing lists, and gateways humming right along; and who
 ** diligently responded to *so many* questions on the mailing lists.
 ** Thanks very much!
 **
 ** Special thanks to Darrell Kindred and Andrew Meggs, whose programming
 ** skill in their respective fields (fast bitslice clients and fast
 ** user-friendly Mac PPC clients) is unmatched!
 **
 ** Special thanks to Karl Runge, who has spent many evenings into the wee
 ** hours (is 5 AM wee?) to develop some outstanding stats and to make sure
 ** those stats were posted each morning!
 **
 ** Special thanks to Jeff Simmons, and others, whose names tragically
 ** escape me, who did some early publicity to get the project rolling!
 **
 ** Special thanks to the other developers, Guy Albertelli and Kelly
 ** Campbell.  Guy performed a number of "ports", and Kelly produced the
 ** first Mac client.
 **
 ** Thanks to countless others, who devoted not just their CPU cycles, but
 ** their boundless energy as well.
 **
 **
 ** I offer both thanks and consolations to our only public "competitor",
 ** SolNET.
 **
 ** Magnus and Fredrik:  As I have said before, SolNET is a class outfit.  I
 ** never once heard you disparage your competition.  We thank you!
 **
 ** In a sense, the "win" belongs to all of us, who contributed CPU cycles
 ** and clients and ideas and innovations.  We searched less than 1/4 of the
 ** keyspace.  Worldwide, over half of the keyspace was searched.  A
 ** DESCHALL client may have found "the" key, but you deserve credit for
 ** helping to bring the "expected date of completion" significantly ahead.
 **
 ** Your Web site gave us a goal to shoot for.  A goal which we never met.
 ** Your clients had many features our users wished for.  There is no shame
 ** in not finding the key.  But I know the anguish you must feel after
 ** putting your hearts and souls into a project for 3-4 months, and not
 ** being "the" winner.
 **
 ** In my eyes, everyone who participated, whether working for the DESCHALL
 ** team or the SolNET team is a winner!
 **
 **
 ** Last but not least, thanks to my dear wife, Myra, who allowed me to
 ** engage in this project (when I should have been looking for my next
 ** contract programming job); and to her and my children, who tolerated
 ** the disruption to our household routine caused by this project.
 **
 **
 ** - - Rocke Verser, DESCHALL organizer, rcv@dopey.verser.frii.com
 **
 ** -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
 ** Version: 2.6.2
 **
 ** iQCVAwUBM6g4wXI7TKUAAAABAQGNrwQAyuvPPGgIaRMmveI/9MwbTq6SbNerD4A3
 ** VluN2EW+GCvT1UiyTV2eQ3tJB+9f5RUVnQ77rqsVvME1Go0M1Vckq0VPzBdMYWgq
 ** laNv8tf4LEkSyu2LrfoLONyvrNmcByRmO8Bwt/QtqICK4gFpXcnoWXaCz4NG6iZf
 ** 6NtPgJnQh6o=
 ** =I+bG
 ** -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
 **

<< end of forwarded material >>



--
Kent Borg                               H: +1-617-776-6899
kentborg@borg.org                       W:
          "The language seemed pretty natural to me.
                    I talk a lot like that."
        - My Minnesota mother Helene commenting on "Fargo"



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--- end forwarded text



-----------------
Robert Hettinga (rah@shipwright.com), Philodox
e$, 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA
"... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity,
[predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to
experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'
The e$ Home Page: http://www.shipwright.com/