Widespread encryption system could be broken faster than brute-force.
The Advanced Encryption Scheme (AES) is used to protect everything from e-commerce to government data. AES is the encryption standard of choice for the United States government since 2001, when the it took over from the Digital Encryption Standard (DES).
A paper presented at the Crypto 2011 conference on Wednesday ... [ read the full article ]
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No worries...I knew that AES cracking would get faster if only because of faster computers...but there is still no way I have seen that my password could be cracked before I die of old age.
Never underestimate hackers, people have been getting burned by this for years. With access to 1000 computers, they could crack a lot faster, bot-net anyone? Even leased time on one of the massive parellel systems would speed things up. It only becomes a major concern when it becomes worth the effort and expense, or a government wants to throw money away.
Just for giggles...let's imagine that there was a hacker that built a botnet with 100,000 computers...and that every one of those computers was a supercomputer as fast as the world's most powerful supercomputer. Maybe he could crack my password in only a few decades, but why would he want to? Surely such a hacker could think of something better to do with his botnet?
Also, I don't think my password would be of much use in 30-80 years, as I change it every 6 months or less.
I agree completely, it's not worth the time or effort, as is the case with most people's information.
The problem isn't necessarily one of the password changing, if that encryption is protecting a file with a list of bank accounts, for example, how long is that data valid. There is no perfect encryption and while it is unlikely, someone could come up with a quick way to crack the encryption at any time. Things like this happen, especially when Governments devote massive amounts of resources to a task. At some point, all encryption becomes less secure and anything encrypeted is vulnerable if it is still out there. My point is that nothing anyone can access is totally secure regardless of the encryption and assuming it is would be asking for trouble.
I look at it like what DNA has done to crime. There are thousands of unsolved cases all over the country that have been solved because the police kept evidence, DNA was recovered and matched to someone. It has also exonerated many people wrongfully convicted, but people who thought they got away woke up to a surprise one day.
Yes it is unlikely, but to think it can;t change overnight is foolishness. It happens all the time.
Originally posted by KillerBug: Just for giggles...let's imagine that there was a hacker that built a botnet with 100,000 computers...and that every one of those computers was a supercomputer as fast as the world's most powerful supercomputer. Maybe he could crack my password in only a few decades, but why would he want to? Surely such a hacker could think of something better to do with his botnet?
Also, I don't think my password would be of much use in 30-80 years, as I change it every 6 months or less.
So your machine is unhackable, or just your password?
