[CLUE-Tech] Re: [CLUE-TechDSL (Cisco Modem) - passwords

[Sean LeBlanc]

On 01-06 18:30, Jeremiah Stanley wrote:
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> > From some research I did last night it seems MD5 is a one way
> > encryption.  I had to started to write a program to try and reverse
> > the algorythm.  I have code for doing MD5 so I thought I would try and
> > go the other way.  No such luck :^( .
> 
> Just for a reference to "crack" MD5 you would need to have all of the 
> worlds computers working on this 24/7/365, take into account Moore's Law 
> in this too. Now ignore the storage requirements for this with the ratio 
> of 1 silicon atom to 1 bit of storage, which puts the storage requirement 
> for this project at about twice the estimated amount of silicon in the 
> universe. It would still take you 2^212 years, by that time I'm sure the 
> sun will have supernova'd us all the component atoms wasting all those 
> cycles we could have used to play solitaire and cure cancer. You may 
> have better luck throwing in some differential calc and working against 
> linear equations and all but it still hasn't been proven that MD5 is 
> weak to anything but brute force. ;)

I'm curious...I thought that MD5 was shown to have some lack of randomness
(I remember reading this about 1.5 years ago, I think) that may be exploited
in some manner. And of course I don't have a cite for this. It may have been
on Slashdot.

Of course, when/if quantum computers come about - current encryption and
one-way hashes will look pretty weak, huh? :)

-- 
Sean LeBlanc:seanleblanc at attbi.com Yahoo:seanleblancathome 
ICQ:138565743 MSN:seanleblancathome AIM:sleblancathome 
Efficiency is intelligent laziness. 
-David Dunham