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'Cryptopalypse' Now: Looming Security Crisis Could Cripple Internet
LiveScience.com ^ | 21 August, 2013 | Paul Wagenseil

Posted on 08/21/2013 8:50:45 PM PDT by Errant

The Internet, and many forms of online commerce and communication that depend on it, may be on the brink of a "cryptopalypse" resulting from the collapse of decades-old methods of shared encryption.

The result would be "almost total failure of trust in the Internet," said four researchers who gave a presentation at the Black Hat security conference in Las Vegas earlier this month.

"We need to move to stronger cryptosystems that leverage more-difficult mathematical problems," the presenters said.

(Excerpt) Read more at livescience.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; News/Current Events; Technical
KEYWORDS: crypto; encryption; it; programming; security
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To: GeronL
Just the HAMs being able to contact and communicate the data packets to each other and to upload them to local BBS’s would be a big step and the most important part of the process.

Exactly. The HAMs would form the backbone. The local BBS's responsible for the dissemination and collecting private packets for uploading to the backbone.

61 posted on 08/21/2013 10:52:58 PM PDT by Errant
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To: Errant; ShadowAce

If we could set up dedicated local BBS’ for communication we could use them for other things in the meantime, like running NetPanzer games against each other. lol. Just to make sure they work.

I don’t know much about setting up a local BBS though.


62 posted on 08/21/2013 11:00:08 PM PDT by GeronL
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To: Errant

I guess it’s time to get smart and start doing all my banking and bill paying in person or by mail.


63 posted on 08/21/2013 11:03:40 PM PDT by VerySadAmerican (When you vote for evil because you can't see evil, you ARE evil.)
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To: Errant

Modems are dicey at over 28.8 over many VOIP systems; you certainly won’t be getting “x2” speeds over long distance.


64 posted on 08/21/2013 11:06:51 PM PDT by The Antiyuppie ("When small men cast long shadows, then it is very late in the day.")
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To: GeronL
We could have a FRecs test every 3 or 4 months. Just an inconvenience for those who need to actually sacrifice their land line phone for a day.

It might work better for the local BBS's to do the calling in to the backbone/HAM BBS's and exchange packets. That way you wouldn't need for the backbone to have designated subs. And if a backbone node went down, the locals could contact the next one on their list, if the first contact failed.

The weak link will be the dialup connections. Too easily traced if a takeover occurred, or phones taken out by EMP.

65 posted on 08/21/2013 11:17:25 PM PDT by Errant
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To: Errant

That is true, but I was thinking more along the lines of a tyrannical government than an EMP. You are probably correct, and I was thinking of HAM operators personally logging into the BBS to upload the files and data they received. Having it done automatically by the BBS computer is definitely an idea though.


66 posted on 08/21/2013 11:27:12 PM PDT by GeronL
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To: GeronL
Having it done automatically by the BBS computer is definitely an idea though.

That wouldn't be that hard to do. I wrote a piece of code like this that ran as a service on windows servers and contacted the main database clear across the country many times a day. Only data since the last time stamp was exchanged. Need to add a few bells and whistles like logging, recovery, and notifications.

67 posted on 08/21/2013 11:34:16 PM PDT by Errant
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To: GeronL

It would be easy peasey to do 60 words a minute of data on shortwave sent as simple morse. To encode/decode only a simple microcontroller would be needed. Use FFT to detect the audio tone and simple programming to handle the morse.

Figure a one dollar uC, a 4 dollar LCD display and a few pennies worth of caps/resistors/etc. Store the received text in the flash of the uC and display it on the LCD.

60wpm is slow but over a 24hr period that would be a considerable amount of textual data. Simulcast on 80 40 and 20 meters for all day reception.

FreeRepublic could do with an encrypted P2P backup system. It could be done as a FireFox plugin.


68 posted on 08/21/2013 11:34:36 PM PDT by Bobalu (It is not obama we are fighting, it is the media.)
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To: GeronL

What you are describing is a form of a “store and forward” network, which has fallen out of favor due to the incredible bandwidth we have today.


69 posted on 08/21/2013 11:34:57 PM PDT by The Antiyuppie ("When small men cast long shadows, then it is very late in the day.")
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To: VerySadAmerican

Better to be your own banker. :) At least be prepared to get by for some time without the need of a bank. I see where the Indian rupee has dropped 40% in recent days. That’s going to leave a mark, since it’s a poor country to begin with.


70 posted on 08/21/2013 11:37:50 PM PDT by Errant
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A security conference discussing the “looming security crisis”... go figure.

There’s no cure for carelessness, negligence, and Manning.


71 posted on 08/21/2013 11:42:52 PM PDT by Gene Eric (Don't be a statist!)
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To: Gene Eric

That was at the “Black Hat” conference, the Comdex for information security.


72 posted on 08/21/2013 11:45:39 PM PDT by Errant
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To: GeronL

Best set up as a mesh network of Linksys routers (the Linux models) or modified cellphones/tablets. Every person to set up a node would extend the network. External antennas are simple to build for these frequencies...best to put the device in a watertight container at the antenna to avoid feedline loss. Pipe DC up to it with a twisted pair.

An easy to build discone would be a good choice for the antenna as it is so easy to make and tolerant of mistakes as it is so broad-band.

Modified old cellphone/tablet/router up 30ft on a pole with a discone and you extend the network for miles. Just putting the device in a plastic bag and feeding power to it would extend the network a mile or so if placed in a high spot like an attic or chimney.

Everyone has a few old cellphones and chargers.


73 posted on 08/21/2013 11:46:13 PM PDT by Bobalu (It is not obama we are fighting, it is the media.)
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To: Bobalu

Now your getting to an ad-hoc wireless network. Something that would draw a lot of attention from “them”. That is very interesting on a local basis though, in order to reach the BBS if the phone system is taken out.

The original idea was a way to keep communicating nationally if the “kill switch” happens. My idea is for FReepers to keep in touch and sharing information, not the general public.

That is why we would have FReeper HAMs able to send each other data packets and upload these packets on local BBS systems.


74 posted on 08/21/2013 11:51:42 PM PDT by GeronL
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To: GeronL

Back in the day a buddy and I ran the only BBS in Cape Girardeau MO.

We also ran the town’s only dial-a-joke :-)

Everyone called my BBS. I had online textual games and a popular chat-with-sysop feature.

I got some of those really cheap phone lines installed that have free incoming calls but by the minute outgoing...were 5 dollars a month each.


75 posted on 08/21/2013 11:53:38 PM PDT by Bobalu (It is not obama we are fighting, it is the media.)
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To: Bobalu

I wonder if you could that again? How much would they cost now?

I checked out a site about BBS boards and some of them had 200+ nodes. I don’t know if that’s internet or phone nodes though.


76 posted on 08/21/2013 11:56:35 PM PDT by GeronL
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To: Errant

The world needs to move on to elliptic curve cryptography.
Trouble is the company that owns Blackberry holds patents on ECC.

http://www.nsa.gov/business/programs/elliptic_curve.shtml


77 posted on 08/21/2013 11:57:29 PM PDT by Bobalu (It is not obama we are fighting, it is the media.)
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To: GeronL

You neglected to mention the requisite one-writes.


78 posted on 08/21/2013 11:59:32 PM PDT by Gene Eric (Don't be a statist!)
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To: Gene Eric

I don’t even know what that means. I am not into the technical details of this, it’s simply an idea of keeping FR going offline if the need arises.


79 posted on 08/22/2013 12:22:42 AM PDT by GeronL
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To: GeronL

It’s an old-school encryption technique I recall reading about years ago. I think it involves a very long, randomized key of data that is married to the message being encrypted/decrypted.


80 posted on 08/22/2013 12:56:16 AM PDT by Gene Eric (Don't be a statist!)
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