Awesome. <br><br>-------------------<br><br> <<a href="http://en.epochtimes.com/tools/printer.asp?id=50336">http://en.epochtimes.com/tools/printer.asp?id=50336</a>><br><br><br> The Epoch Times<br><br> Home > Science & Technology
<br><br> Chinese Professor Cracks Fifth Data Security Algorithm<br><br> SHA-1 added to list of "accomplishments"<br><br> Central News Agency<br><br> Jan 11, 2007<br><br><br> Associate professor Wang Xiaoyun of Beijing's Tsinghua University and
<br> Shandong University of Technology has cracked SHA-1, a widely used data<br> security algorithm. (Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images)<br><br> TAIPEI-Within four years, the U.S. government will cease to use SHA-1<br> (Secure Hash Algorithm) for digital signatures, and convert to a new and
<br> more advanced "hash" algorithm, according to the article "Security<br> Cracked!" from New Scientist . The reason for this change is that associate<br> professor Wang Xiaoyun of Beijing's Tsinghua University and Shandong
<br> University of Technology, and her associates, have already cracked SHA-1.<br><br> Wang also cracked MD5 (Message Digest 5), the hash algorithm most commonly<br> used before SHA-1 became popular. Previous attacks on MD5 required over a
<br> million years of supercomputer time, but Wang and her research team<br> obtained results using ordinary personal computers.<br><br> In early 2005, Wang and her research team announced that they had succeeded<br> in cracking SHA-1. In addition to the
U.S. government, well-known companies<br> like Microsoft, Sun, Atmel, and others have also announced that they will<br> no longer be using SHA-1.<br><br> Two years ago, Wang announced at an international data security conference
<br> that her team had successfully cracked four well-known hash algorithms-MD5,<br> HAVAL-128, MD4, and RIPEMD-within ten years.<br><br> A few months later, she cracked the even more robust SHA-1.<br><br> Focus and Dedication
<br><br> According to the article, Wang's research focusses on hash algorithms.<br><br> A hash algorithm is a mathematical procedure for deriving a 'fingerprint'<br> of a block of data. The hash algorithms used in cryptography are "one-way":
<br> it is easy to derive hash values from inputs, but very difficult to work<br> backwards, finding an input message that yields a given hash value.<br> Cryptographic hash algorithms are also resistant to "collisions": that is,
<br> it is computationally infeasible to find any two messages that yield the<br> same hash value.<br><br> Hash algorithms' usefulness in data security relies on these properties,<br> and much research focusses in this area.
<br><br> Recent years have seen a stream of ever-more-refined attacks on MD5 and<br> SHA-1-including, notably, Wang's team's results on SHA-1, which permit<br> finding collisions in SHA-1 about 2,000 times more quickly than brute-force
<br> guessing. Wang's technique makes attacking SHA-1 efficient enough to be<br> feasible.<br><br> MD5 and SHA-1 are the two most extensively used hash algorithms in the<br> world. These two algorithms underpin many digital signature and other
<br> security schemes in use throughout the international community. They are<br> widely used in banking, securities, and e-commerce. SHA-1 has been<br> recognized as the cornerstone for modern Internet security.<br><br>
According to the article, in the early stages of Wang's research, there<br> were other researchers who tried to crack it. However, none of them<br> succeeded. This is why in 15 years hash research had become the domain of
<br> hopeless research in many scientists' minds.<br><br> Wang's method of cracking algorithms differs from others'. Although such<br> analysis usually cannot be done without the use of computers, according to
<br> Wang, the computer only assisted in cracking the algorithm. Most of the<br> time, she calculated manually, and manually designed the methods.<br><br> "Hackers crack passwords with bad intentions," Wang said. "I hope efforts
<br> to protect against password theft will benefit [from this]. Password<br> analysts work to evaluate the security of data encryption and to search for<br> even more secure<br> algorithms."<br><br> "On the day that I cracked SHA-1," she added, "I went out to eat. I was
<br> very excited. I knew I was the only person who knew this world-class<br> secret."<br><br> Within ten years, Wang cracked the five biggest names in cryptographic hash<br> algorithms. Many people would think the life of this scientist must be
<br> monotonous, but "That ten years was a very relaxed time for me," she says.<br><br> During her work, she bore a daughter and cultivated a balcony full of<br> flowers. The only mathematics-related habit in her life is that she
<br> remembers the license plates of taxi cabs.<br><br> With additional reporting by The Epoch Times.<br clear="all"><br>-- <br>mike<br>00110001 <3 00110111