128-bit keys are cracked and the Microsoft Anti-trust Case begins. All on today’s On This Day from TEST Huddle.
1997 – RSA Data Security key is Cracked
The RSA Data Security RC5 56-bit encryption key is cracked by team “Bovine RC5 Effort.” The breaking of the encription code was an effort by the company to encourage the US federal government to approve the unrestricted export of 128-bit keys. At that time US law only allowed for export without the use of key escrow or recovery schemes. The prize awarded to the winners is $10,000 with over four thousand teams participating in the challenge. The Bovine RC5 Effort succeeded after 210 days of effort. The message contained in the encryption reads, “It is time to move to a longer key length.” Forty-seven percent of code combinations were tried before the correct key was found.
1998 – The Microsoft Anti-trust case begins
The Microsoft antitrust case brought by the United States Justice Department and the attorney generals of twenty states begins. The government’s lawyers spend more than three hours detailing the acts that Microsoft is alleged to have committed in order to gain monopolistic control of the desktop operating system monopoly market.
