The 56-bit DES encryption standard was recently cracked by Michael Sanders, a member of a distributed code-breaking group responding to RSA's $10,000 DES Challenge. The 56-bit DES cipher, with a possible 72 quadrillion keys to test, was broken in five months. Mathematically, breaking a 56-bit cipher requires just 65,000 times more work than breaking a 40-bit cipher. Most of today's browser programs use the 40-bit cipher because it is the maximum encryption level the U.S. government has approved for export.
-- Jonathan Erickson
The U.S. Department of Commerce has granted clearance to both Microsoft and Netscape to ship software that uses 128-bit encryption overseas. The enhanced browser software can now be made available to international customers, but the server software can only be installed by approved financial institutions. According to the Commerce Department's Bureau of Export Administration, the new regulations will "allow the export of products specifically designed to support financial transactions. These include direct home banking software of any key length, offered by banks to their customers world wide. The regulations will also allow exports, for two years, of powerful, nonrecoverable, commercially available data encryption products when used for interbank and similar financial transactions." The new policy also exempts banks and other financial institutions from the U.S.'s rigorous key-recovery requirements because, according to the Commerce Department, banks are already subject to explicit legal requirements for responding to law enforcement requests.
-- Deirdre Blake
In a recent survey conducted by Alex Shesshunoff Management Services, the CEOs of 33 percent of the community banks polled indicated that they are "not at all prepared" to deal with Y2K challenges. Furthermore, 88 percent of those banks do not have a documented plan in place, while 95 percent do not have a budget established to deal with the problem. In the meantime, the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council has issued a Year 2000 Examination Questionnaire to find out what plans U.S. banks have for dealing with the Y2K problem. The FFIEC "strongly encourages" federally insured depository institutions to complete an inventory of core computer functions and set Y2K priority goals by September 30, 1997.
-- Jonathan Erickson
While banks may not be taking the Y2K problem seriously, the securities industry certainly is. According to a recent report by The Tower Group and Securities Industry Association, the industry spent an estimated $11.5 billion (in 1996 alone) to prepare itself for the year 2000. On average, that totalled 63 percent of the information-technology budgets for responding companies. Interestingly, approximately 3 percent of the securities industry's information-technology budget was spent on Internet/Intranet/Extranet development. Respondents projected continued growth in Internet spending, with annual budgets in the year 2000 to fall between $875 million and $1.3 billion.
-- Jonathan Erickson
The United States Marine Corps recently pitted a task force of 2000 Marines equipped with advanced technologies against a larger regiment using current technologies and tactics. Conducted at Camp Pendleton, the experiment was designed to assess the impact of pervasive computerization on the battlefield.
Advanced technologies tested by the experiment include: a multiuser distributed system that automates the planning and coordination of critical operations such as fire missions, airspace control and monitoring, and communications; an interactive electronic 3-D sandtable that will automatically update unit locations based on messages from the Joint Maritime Command Information System (JMCIS); and various unmanned aerial systems for delivering sensors, providing over-the-horizon imagery, or distributing supplies.
In some cases, commercial products were used to model future military systems. For instance, squads were equipped with Newtons, which were linked to headquarters via Ericcson digital radios. The Newtons used special communications software called "Leatherneck," which was designed for the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command by Booz, Allen & Hamilton.
-- Amy Wong
Gyration (http://www.gyration.com/) has released what it claims is the world's smallest dual-axis rate gyroscope sensor. Designed for controls, game controllers, and auto-navigation systems, the MicroGyro 100 is 0.80×0.92×0.92 inches in size. The device is a dual-axis rate gyroscope sensor that detects rotational movement (any two combinations of pitch, yaw, and roll around the x-, y-, and z-axes) and measures angular velocity. The sensing element is a unique noncontact metal beam that is vibrated by a microminiature magnet and coil drive system. When the MicroGyro is rotated, the beam's response is measured and reported in voltage corresponding to the rate of rotation.
-- Jonathan Erickson
First it was UnixWare, which was shunted off to the Santa Cruz Operation. Then it was Wordperfect, which eventually found its way to Corel. For its part, DR DOS ended up at Caldera. More recently, it's NEST, which now belongs to Intelogis. As Novell's 1994 foray into the embedded-systems marketplace, NEST (short for Novell Embedded Systems Technology) was designed to give manufacturers the ability to integrate "smart" technology into home appliances and office equipment via electrical power-line communication.
Formed earlier this year, Intelogis is a privately held hardware and software company in which Novell holds an ownership interest. Intelogis is made up of core inventors and engineers from the Novell project. Intelogis' current networking product is InteloNET.
-- Jonathan Erickson
Copyright © 1997, Dr. Dobb's Journal