Break my code challenge

[Andrew Fergus]

For those of you interested in cryptography, I have put together a challenge. I have developed, what I think, is an unbreakable cipher and I have decided to put my money where my mouth is and host a challenge.

Details about the challenge can be found here:
http://www.accessdata.co.nz/

If you are new to the subject of cryptology, I recommend a book by Simon Singh called 'The Code Book', and he also has some interesting information on his website here : http://www.simonsingh.net/

Wikipedia also has some handy information on the subject (e.g. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cryptography)

Andrew

 

[Patience]

That looks hard - and I have no IDEA how to do it!!!

 

[rconverse]

I will NOT be participating. Good luck to the rest though.

It would have been awesome if the first reply was someone who had already cracked the code. LOL

 

[Domski]

Looks a bit tricky that. Beyond most people's skills I reckon.

I don't suppose holding my monitor up to a mirror will magically reveal the answer?

Dom

 

[Andrew Fergus]

No a mirror won't help you! (no pun intended) :D

I genuinely think it is unbreakable, that's why the challenge is open for a year. I will release a sample of the cipher software at some point but I need to sort out a couple of legal issues first.

Cheers
Andrew

 

[QuietRiot]

Theres no such thing has "unbreakable".

I for one won't be breaking it though. No clue where to even begin. They're bars

 

[Domski]

Theres no such thing has "unbreakable".

Not according to the Wikipedia article. Quite interesting but more in the same way I found reading about the Enigma code machines interesting not in a way that it enlightened me into how to break any codes.

 

[Andrew Fergus]

Theres no such thing has "unbreakable".

That remains to be seen. Often unbreakable claims refer to one part of a system - I have tried to cover all of the bases. Nothing is unbreakable when confronted by a brute force attack, but some brute force attacks would take eons and result in every possible permutation in almost every language - in which case, how would you know when you had the right answer? Quantum computing on the other hand would be a different beast and probably spell the end of public key encryption - I'm trying to get ahead of that. Consider also that rarely does a burglar try every key in the front door - they would most likely find another way in - the same analogy applies to cryptology.

I have had requests on another forum to disclose the encryption process but I have a couple of legal issues I need to resolve before I do that. At some point I will also release a working version of the cipher - again once I have resolved another legal issue.

Andrew

 

[Oorang]

Hi Andrew,
I am going offer a mild criticism of the testing method (nothing personal ) As you mentioned others have brought up, to be a true test it should be able to survive peer review. Which is to say that the cipher text should remain undecipherable without the key even if all parts of the system are known. Otherwise you fall into the trap of "Obscurity Security". That relies on no one reverse engineering your system (and they will). Take for example mifare Classic. That was reverse engineered off of a chip. They busted out a microscope and went to work.
When you go with bmp code. All you are doing is converting all the text to numeric representations and then scrambling it. Despite leaving your numbers in a format that could interpreted as bmp (or misinterpreted) it is for all that still a big number block and as such still vulnerable to standard attacks. The real question to consider is how well did you scramble it? And that is quite easily revealed in algorithim analysis. (Which BTW will be the most likely first point of attack anyway.) So to skip step 1 and go
ahead with the test isn't really much of a test or, with respect, a test at all. As it is only going to take one dedicated reverse engineer and you are as they say... hosed.

Other question... Is this intended to be symmetrical or asymmetrical?

 

[Oorang]

Are all messages in this system 101 X 10 ?
Is it capable of Handling Unicode or is it ASCII only? UTF 8?
How Monetary is this prize?