Encryption

A four-year-old start-up has begun shipments of what it says are the world's first commercial data-scrambling devices that use the radically new technology of quantum encryption.

Magiq Technologies, a privately held firm based in New York City, said this week it is selling Navajo Secure Gateway for between $50,000 and $100,000 a unit. It uses a combination of quantum cryptography and traditional cryptography to provide a virtual private network (VPN), running over fibre-optic cable, that's designed to be completely secure against all eavesdroppers.

A pioneering attempt to overturn the U.S. government's Cold War-era laws restricting the publication of some forms of encryption code ended quietly Wednesday when a federal judge dismissed the lawsuit--but only after assurances that the anticrypto laws would not be enforced.
U.S. District Judge Marilyn Hall Patel in San Francisco threw out the case after the Bush administration said it would no longer try to enforce portions of the regulations, according to parties involved in the proceedings.

No matter what protocol or architecture you're using to broadcast data through the air, encryption can make that data safer. In this article, we'll examine some places where encryption can help secure wireless applications and networks, with a particular focus on WAP and P2P architectures. We'll also look at a J2ME application that uses cutting-edge cryptographical libraries to encode its data.

ROME -- Italian police have seized at least two Psion personal digital assistants from members of the Red Brigades terrorist organization.
But the major investigative breakthrough they were hoping for as a result of the information contained on the devices has failed to materialize--thwarted by encryption software used by the left-wing revolutionaries.

Read the article Here

Source: vnunet

Researchers have developed new technology that could allow companies to implement hack-proof communications in three years.
The technology, based on quantum cryptography, was demonstrated by Toshiba Research Europe this week working over distances of 100km for the first time.

Research laboratory group leader Andrew Shields explained that the technology will be applicable for large organisations such as banks and government departments needing highly secure links between local sites.

Source: Telegraph (UK)

The codebreakers of Bletchley Park not only broke into the secrets of the German Enigma machine, but also succeeded in cracking the main Russian machine ciphers.

The success of British cryptanalysts during the Second World War in cracking the German machine is well known, but their work on Soviet machines has remained secret.

Source: PC World

Source: ZDNet

The chief executive of PGP Corporation, Phillip Dunkelberger, has hinted the company will release a secure instant messaging (IM) application following the re-launch of the brand in June last year.

During a phone interview, Dunkelberger made reference to IM as an area that has significant potential for innovation.

"Messages of all types need to be secure," he said.

Source: CNet News

Moore's law is the biggest threat to privacy today, asserts Phil Zimmermann, who in the early 1990s developed Pretty Good Privacy to bring encryption to the masses.

Zimmermann, who was here for the Infosecurity conference, told ZDNet UK that Moore's law represents a "blind force" that is fueling an undirected technology escalation. Moore's law, developed by Intel co-founder Gordon Moore, states that the number of transistors on a chip will double about every 18 months.

Source: Wired

Ever looked at the Mona Lisa and wondered why he's got such a goofy grin?

Yes, we do mean he.
Evidently, Mona isn't quite the woman art historians thought she was. But only those who know the secret code can look at Leonardo Da Vinci's famous portrait and see the happy hermaphrodite that lurks within.