Re: [Thinkpad] Thinkpad Hard Drive Passwords

On Mon, Feb 02, 2004 at 10:40:33AM -0500, Bruce Markowitz wrote:
> All I have to say is:
> ENIGMA
> Midway
> ANY code can be broken

Except that ENIGMA isn't an example of the the kind of code being presented as unbreakable here. So your claim is equivalent to: "I can safely eat an orange therefore all fruit may be safely eaten."

With that in mind skepticism is warranted sure a one-time-pad is 'provably' unbreakable (as that any message of length N can represent any other message of length N - or less if we include the possibility of padding). However this is only true in the case where the key selection is random. Key selection on computers is generaly not random and this can allow someone the ability to crack the key.

J.
 

> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Felix E. Klee" <felix.klee.thinkpad@gmx.net>
> To: <thinkpad@stderr.org>
> Sent: Monday, February 02, 2004 8:38 AM
> Subject: Re: [Thinkpad] Thinkpad Hard Drive Passwords
>
>
> > On Mon, 2 Feb 2004 08:10:29 -0500 Bruce Markowitz wrote:
> > > You can break anything if you try hard enough. What is your point?
> >
> > His point is that HD passwords are a weak protection as compared to
> > encrypted data. If the encryption key is as long as the data, it is
> > obvious that the encryption cannot be broken. If the key is shorter than
> > the data, it is always possible to partially decrypt the data. However,
> > with decently long keys and good encryption schemes this process may
> > take "astronomically" long (maybe hundreds or thousands of years). HD
> > passwords, OTOH, can probably be gained in a matter of hours by any good
> > data rescue service.
> >
> > Felix
> >
> > PS: To contact me off list don't reply but send mail to "felix.klee" at
> the
> > domain "inka.de". Otherwise your email to me might get automatically
> deleted!
> > _______________________________________________
> > Thinkpad mailing list
> > Thinkpad@stderr.org
> > http://stderr.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/thinkpad
>
> _______________________________________________
> Thinkpad mailing list
> Thinkpad@stderr.org
> http://stderr.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/thinkpad
_______________________________________________
Thinkpad mailing list
Thinkpad@stderr.org
http://stderr.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/thinkpad
Received on Mon Feb 2 15:21:31 2004