Cryptographic "breakthrough" by NSA? - page 2.

joecascio

full member

Activity: 137

Merit: 100

Semi-retired software developer, tech consultant

Quote from: Matthew N. Wright on June 07, 2013, 01:32:42 PM

http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2012/03/nsa-denies-wired/

Just because they might not have the ability now, doesn't mean they're not planning to have it soon. http://www.dslreports.com/forum/r27012462-Wired-article-explains-NSA-decrypting-plans-new-facility

If all you need is a private key to import to a bitcoin wallet, why would the NSA bother "mining" bitcoins when they could just open up all the wallets in existence and send the contents to themselves or a black hole?

They wouldn't do that because it would tip their hand. One of the prime directives of a code-breaking organization is not to reveal your capabilities until it's really necessary and then ideally use the information in such a way that it does not reveal that you can do it.

Trongersoll

hero member

Activity: 490

Merit: 501

Quote from: jaywaka2713 on June 07, 2013, 01:31:44 PM

Quote from: Trongersoll on June 07, 2013, 01:27:31 PM

the NSA released SHA256 according to wikipedia. The NSA never endorses anything that they can't themselves decrypt, ever.

Think of the staff size of the NSA. Then think of the amount of people that have been working on SHA256 and TRYING to break it. Nobody has. Nobody has found a single leak, a single hole. Not even a hint. There isn't a way for them to decrypt it. Based off the way SHA256 works, you theoretically just cant.

IIf this were true, they would have just classified it and ATF would be knocking on the door of anyone using anything like it.

Matthew N. Wright

hero member

Activity: 588

Merit: 500

Hero VIP ultra official trusted super staff puppet

Quote from: jaywaka2713 on June 07, 2013, 01:34:54 PM

Ugh, the NSA is a rouge organization with attacks solely directed via boredom and pointless funding.

and don't forget communism/socialism fear mongering.

joecascio

full member

Activity: 137

Merit: 100

Semi-retired software developer, tech consultant

Quote from: Trongersoll on June 07, 2013, 01:27:31 PM

the NSA released SHA256 according to wikipedia. The NSA never endorses anything that they can't themselves decrypt, ever.

That's certainly a reasonable suspicion, but there are a lot of very smart crypto-mathematicians outside the NSA, too. Also it's a public algorithm. There aren't any secret places to hide code.

They don't have a monopoly on brainpower. I think if there was a vulnerability, it would have been discovered by now. But, maybe not. They're certainly not going to tell us, right?

jaywaka2713

sr. member

Activity: 266

Merit: 250

aka 7Strykes

Ugh, the NSA is a rouge organization with attacks solely directed via boredom and pointless funding.

Matthew N. Wright

hero member

Activity: 588

Merit: 500

Hero VIP ultra official trusted super staff puppet

http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2012/03/nsa-denies-wired/

Just because they might not have the ability now, doesn't mean they're not planning to have it soon. http://www.dslreports.com/forum/r27012462-Wired-article-explains-NSA-decrypting-plans-new-facility

If all you need is a private key to import to a bitcoin wallet, why would the NSA bother "mining" bitcoins when they could just open up all the wallets in existence and send the contents to themselves or a black hole?

jaywaka2713

sr. member

Activity: 266

Merit: 250

aka 7Strykes

Quote from: Trongersoll on June 07, 2013, 01:27:31 PM

the NSA released SHA256 according to wikipedia. The NSA never endorses anything that they can't themselves decrypt, ever.

Think of the staff size of the NSA. Then think of the amount of people that have been working on SHA256 and TRYING to break it. Nobody has. Nobody has found a single leak, a single hole. Not even a hint. There isn't a way for them to decrypt it. Based off the way SHA256 works, you theoretically just cant.

joecascio

full member

Activity: 137

Merit: 100

Semi-retired software developer, tech consultant

Quote from: ?? on ??

Yep they have discovered that if they store encrypted comms for a few decades then maybe eventually they might be able to decrypt some of those. If you read carefully you will see that the DC described there is more about storage than brute force.

Yes, I did read those bits. Basically, they might be able to decrypt data that's so old it uses smaller key sizes. But given what's been accomplished with bitcoin mining ASICs and 60 Ghash/sec performance, they just might hit the crypto-lottery every now and then. Too bad the combined hashing power of the bitcoin network makes their puny peta-flop machines look weak.

Trongersoll

hero member

Activity: 490

Merit: 501

the NSA released SHA256 according to wikipedia. The NSA never endorses anything that they can't themselves decrypt, ever.

jaywaka2713

sr. member

Activity: 266

Merit: 250

aka 7Strykes

Quote from: ?? on ??

Yep they have discovered that if they store encrypted comms for a few decades then maybe eventually they might be able to decrypt some of those. If you read carefully you will see that the DC described there is more about storage than brute force.

I thought I read something about a breakthrough they had where they could emulate the entire range of SHA256 hashes. That was a really long time ago though. I probably misunderstood it though, as it was years ago.

joecascio

full member

Activity: 137

Merit: 100

Semi-retired software developer, tech consultant

This article, over a year old, presaged the recent revelations about NSA and its total war on privacy. The article mentions a "breakthrough" in code-breaking.

http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2012/03/ff_nsadatacenter/all/1

Quote

According to another top official also involved with the program, the NSA made an enormous breakthrough several years ago in its ability to cryptanalyze, or break, unfathomably complex encryption systems employed by not only governments around the world but also many average computer users in the US. The upshot, according to this official: “Everybody’s a target; everybody with communication is a target.”

Just wondering if anyone in the cryptographic community knows anything about this. Did they really discover something new or is this just journalistic hype?

Topic: Cryptographic "breakthrough" by NSA? - page 2. (Read 7838 times)