Re: Scientology tries to break PGP - and fails?

On Fri, 8 Sep 1995, Tom Rollins wrote:

> I took a look at the FACTNet web page.  There is a file encrypted with
> PGP using the "-c" option.  They are asking for people to help guess
> the Pass Phrase.  Why would anyone bother if they had no clue that the
> file contained anything 'interesting'.

I can only assume one of two things - either this is a joke, as the
decrypted contents are nothing special as far as I can see (though
'interesting' in a sense), or that someone is very, very clever and
managed to hide two different messages in there with different
passphrases.

> If this is the file that the Co$ is trying to crack, then what the
> is being asked for is a pass phrase that can be handed to the Co$ that
> will pass the PGP valid key check and still not decrypt the data to
> anything usefull.

If this is the file the Co$ want to crack, they're a) clearly 
cryptographically inept, and b) the joke's clearly on them 8-).. Any 
hacker worthy of the name ought to get the passphrase within three 
attempts (I got it first time).

Note for paranoids: Of course, this message may just be a ruse to put 
the Co$ off the scent ;-)..

	Mark

> 
> On Fri, 8 Sep 1995, Tom Rollins wrote:
> 
> > I took a look at the FACTNet web page.  There is a file encrypted with
> > PGP using the "-c" option.  They are asking for people to help guess
> > the Pass Phrase.  Why would anyone bother if they had no clue that the
> > file contained anything 'interesting'.
> 
> I can only assume one of two things - either this is a joke, as the
> decrypted contents are nothing special as far as I can see (though
> 'interesting' in a sense), or that someone is very, very clever and
> managed to hide two different messages in there with different
> passphrases.
> 
> > If this is the file that the Co$ is trying to crack, then what the
> > is being asked for is a pass phrase that can be handed to the Co$ that
> > will pass the PGP valid key check and still not decrypt the data to
> > anything usefull.
> 
> If this is the file the Co$ want to crack, they're a) clearly 
> cryptographically inept, and b) the joke's clearly on them 8-).. Any 
> hacker worthy of the name ought to get the passphrase within three 
> attempts (I got it first time).
> 
> Note for paranoids: Of course, this message may just be a ruse to put 
> the Co$ off the scent ;-)..
> 
> 	Mark

Ooops, I see what you mean.  It is funny !
I simply did not take this at face value.

-tom