[21673] in cryptography@c2.net mail archive
Re: webcam encryption beats quasar encryption
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (James Muir)
Thu Mar 30 21:31:21 2006
X-Original-To: cryptography@metzdowd.com
X-Original-To: cryptography@metzdowd.com
Date: Thu, 30 Mar 2006 14:52:14 -0500
From: James Muir <jamuir@scs.carleton.ca>
To: "Heyman, Michael" <Michael.Heyman@sparta.com>,
cryptography@metzdowd.com
In-Reply-To: <5ABE30CE099A524CBF95C715D37BCACC1A14F4@nemo.columbia.ads.sparta.com>
Heyman, Michael wrote:
> Internet webcam signals from webcams could emerge as an
> exotic but effective new tool for securing terrestrial
> communications against eavesdropping.
>
> <snip>
Kidding aside, there are some interesting theoretical results about
ciphers that utilize a plentiful, publicly available source of random
bits. See:
http://citeseer.ist.psu.edu/context/238746/0
I think the "Rip Van Winkle cipher" was mentioned in Schneier's Applied
Cryptography. Also, I vaguely recall another news story (1999?) that
reported on an encryption technique that hypothesized a stream of random
bits generated by an orbiting satellite.
"Quasar encryption" is likely impractical, but there could be more to it
than you think. However, I did think "web cam encryption" was funny. :-)
-James
--
James Muir, jamuir@scs.carleton.ca
School of Computer Science, Carleton University
http://www.ccsl.carleton.ca/~jamuir
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