EFF DES cracker facts for kids
The EFF DES cracker, also known as "Deep Crack", was a special machine built by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF). It was designed to break a secret code called DES. Imagine trying every single possible password until you find the right one – that's what "Deep Crack" did! This process is called a brute force attack.
The main goal was to show that the DES code, which was used to protect important information, was no longer strong enough. It proved that the secret "key" (like a password) used in DES was too short to keep messages safe.
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What is the DES Code?
The DES was a very important way to keep digital messages secret. It was approved as a standard way to encrypt (or scramble) information by the U.S. government in 1976. Think of it like a secret language that only people with the right key could understand.
How DES Keys Work
The DES code uses a 56-bit key. This means there are 256 possible keys that could be used to encrypt a message. That's a huge number, about 72 quadrillion (72,000,000,000,000,000) different combinations!
When DES was first created, it would have been incredibly expensive and difficult to build a machine that could try all those keys quickly. But as computers got faster and cheaper, people started to wonder if DES was still secure.
Why Build "Deep Crack"?
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is a group that works to protect digital rights. They wanted to show that the DES code was no longer safe. They believed that anyone with enough money and computing power could break it.
Proving DES Was Weak
To prove their point, the EFF decided to build a machine specifically designed to break DES. This machine was nicknamed "Deep Crack." It was a big project that cost about $250,000.
How "Deep Crack" Worked
"Deep Crack" was built with over 1,800 special computer chips. These chips were designed to quickly test different DES keys. It was like having thousands of tiny computers all working together to guess the secret password.
In just a few days, "Deep Crack" could find the correct DES key for an encrypted message. This showed that the 56-bit key was not long enough to protect information from powerful computers.
The Impact of "Deep Crack"
The success of "Deep Crack" was a big deal in the world of cryptography. It clearly showed that the DES standard needed to be replaced with something stronger.
Moving to Stronger Codes
Because of "Deep Crack" and similar efforts, people started using newer, more secure encryption methods. Today, codes like AES are used, which have much longer keys and are much harder to break. This helps keep our online information safe.
