NSA Still Ahead In Crypto, But Not By Much 208
Hugh Pickens writes "Network World summarizes an RSA Conference panel discussion in which former NSA technical director Brian Snow said that cryptographers for the NSA have been losing ground to their counterparts in universities and commercial security vendors for 20 years, but still maintain the upper hand in the sophistication of their crypto schemes and in their ability to decrypt. 'I do believe NSA is still ahead, but not by much — a handful of years,' says Snow. 'I think we've got the edge still.' Snow added that that in the 1980s there was a huge gap between what the NSA could do and what commercial encryption technology was capable of. 'Now we are very close together and moving very slowly forward in a mature field.' The NSA has one key advantage (besides their deep staff of Ph.D. mathematicians and other cryptographic experts who work on securing traffic and breaking codes): 'We cheat. We get to read what [academics] publish. We do not publish what we research,' he said. Snow's claim of NSA superiority seemed to rankle some members on the panel. Adi Shamir, the "S" in the RSA encryption algorithm, said that when the titles of papers in NSA technical journals were declassified up to 1983, none of them included public key encryption; 'That demonstrates that NSA was behind,' said Shamir. Snow replied that when technologies are developed separately in parallel, the developers don't necessarily use the same terms for them."
Rob Malda's tranny died under mysterious circumsta (Score:0, Funny)
Rob Malda's tranny died under mysterious circumstances
New details about Rob Malda's past may come out in the divorce proceedings with his wife of 8 years, Kathleen. Page 6 speculates that she may fight the prenup, citing Malda’s infidelity with various street trannies.
In 2007, Malda was caught by Dexter police with a transvestite hooker in his car. He told his wife that he “stopped to help a person crying.” Several other hookers sold tales of Malda’s solicitation to the tabloids, and all of them were convinced to recant, with one exception:
Paul Barresi, a private detective who claims he was hired for damage control by Malda when the scandal broke, tells Page Six: “I called [Malda attorney] Marty ‘Bull Dog’ Singer and told him I could round up all the transsexuals alleging sexual dalliances with Malda.” And they would all recant their stories.
“In less than 10 days,” Barresi says, “I got them all to sign sworn, videotaped depositions, stating it wasn’t Malda himself, but rather a look-alike, who they’d encountered - with the exception of Suiuli.” In 2008, she fell to her death from her Dexter roof.
Atisone Suiuli was the tranny found in Malda’s car in 2007. After being caught by police, she had proof that she was with Malda and wouldn’t change her story. How convenient for him that she died soon afterwards.
Their latest decoded message: (Score:5, Funny)
Be sure to drink your Ovaltine.
Re:Crypto is only the Beginning (Score:4, Funny)
Crypto's not the weak link in security anymore
That's what you think.
Re:Sure (Score:1, Funny)
"Snow replied that when technologies are developed separately in parallel, the developers don't necessarily use the same terms for them."
Sure, and I invented cars 200 years ago, but I didn't call it a car so someone else got the credit.
*You* invented the automobile? Amazing!
Re:they aren't very well going to admit defeat. (Score:1, Funny)
You sound like an English major who was forced to write a technical essay.
Re:they aren't very well going to admit defeat. (Score:2, Funny)
Probably time for you to change your password now ;-)
Re:Until (Score:3, Funny)
Re:NSA vs. PUBLIC (Score:5, Funny)
I'm never happy with the way my browser handles line-breaking, so I'm eternally grateful to you for taking the initiative and doing it yourself.
More goverment disinformation... (Score:3, Funny)
In truth, the NSA is hundreds of years [milk.com] ahead of the rest of the world when it comes to cryptography.
Re:Whatever! (Score:3, Funny)
99.9% of the world's population is, well, the bottom 99.9% of the world. We're talking about the very smartest and most gifted people. The sort that shouldn't be happy if they do not achieve something.
Re:they aren't very well going to admit defeat. (Score:1, Funny)
That's orders of magnitude more difficult than calculating the private key from the public one, genius.
Re:they aren't very well going to admit defeat. (Score:2, Funny)
Why would I memorize it when I can put it on one big sticky note?
How I know this is bullshit: (Score:3, Funny)
Original quote:
'I do believe NSA is still ahead, but not by much -- a handful of years,' says Snow. 'I think we've got the edge still.'
Slashdot headline:
NSA Still Ahead In Crypto, But Not By Much
Sorry, Snow. But someone “thinking” that something is that way, has nothing to do with what it actually is.
There are people out there who still “think” that earth is flat, the sun revolves around it, and that there is a bearded man in the sky.
Then again, if you follow the money/power, you realize quickly, why that empty and pointless quote gets thrown around the Internet... ;)
Yeees NSA... you’re still the best... mama still loves you... really! *pat-pat*
I wish that NO agency of any country is “ahead” in crypto. It’s like saying that Jack the Ripper is still ahead of the police. Not a world you want to live in.
Re:they aren't very well going to admit defeat. (Score:3, Funny)
Can he memorize his post, including his misspelled "memorize" word?
You insensitive clod, he's BRITISH! He can't help it... not even their teachers know how to spell. The most a very bright and motivated student can hope for is ox training classes in Cambridge. Just leave him alone!