Researchers Find Way To Zap RSA Algorithm 173
alphadogg writes "Three University of Michigan computer scientists say they have found a way to exploit a weakness in RSA security technology used to protect everything from media players to smartphones and e-commerce servers. RSA authentication is susceptible, they say, to changes in the voltage supply to a private key holder. While guessing the 1,000-plus digits of binary code in a private key would take unfathomable hours, the researchers say that by varying electric current to a secured computer using an inexpensive purpose-built device they were able to stress out the computer and figure out the 1,024-bit private key in about 100 hours – all without leaving a trace. The researchers in their paper outline how they made the attack (PDF) on a SPARC system running Linux."
Like lead pipe cryptanalysis... (Score:5, Funny)
...whether interrogating a human or a computer, apparently it is a simple matter of voltage.
Could this be considered... (Score:5, Funny)
We can just declare this method in violation of the computer's rights and solve the problem easily!
xkcd already did it cheaper (Score:4, Funny)
"without leaving a trace..." (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Article == Summary (Score:1, Funny)
Nah, he was actually the second poster. I was going to be the first poster, but my computer's voltage supply started to fluctuate as I was trying to post, causing me problems. Have no fear, as this would-be-first-poster indeed did not RTFA.
Re:Could this be considered... (Score:5, Funny)
...electronic torture?
Wattage-boarding
Re:Could this be considered... (Score:3, Funny)
This isn't much use for LAME as it's open source, you can just grab any information you want off SourceForge.
Obligitory XKCD. (Score:3, Funny)
Just use Social Engineering [xkcd.com]