RC4 is one of the most used software-based stream ciphers in the world. The cipher is included in popular Internet protocols such as SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) and WEP (for wireless network security). The cipher is fairly simplistic when compared to competing algorithms of the same strength and boasts one of the fastest speeds of …
A Smart Card is a plastic card the size of a credit card with an integrated circuit built into it. This integrated circuit may consist only of EEPROM in the case of a memory card, or it may also contain ROM, RAM and even a CPU. Most smart cards have been designed with the look …
A brute force attack consists of trying every possible code, combination, or password until the right one is found. Determining the Difficulty of a Brute Force Attack The difficulty of a brute force attack depends on several factors, such as: How long can the key be? How many possible values can each key component have? …
A smart card contains an integrated circuit (IC) chip containing a central processing unit (CPU), random access memory (RAM) and non-volatile data storage. Data stored in the smart card’s microchip can be accessed only through the chip operating system (COS). Smart cards provide a secure, portable platform for “any time, anywhere” computing that can contain …
The known ciphertext attack, or ciphertext only attack (COA) is an attack method used in cryptanalysis when the attacker has access to a given set of ciphertext(s). The attacker does not have access to corresponding cleartext in this method; however, COA is successful when correspdonding plaintext can be determined from a given set of ciphertext. …
Over the last decade, millions of people have kept more and more personal information on their computers. From credit card numbers to sensitive emails and word documents, a vast amount of personal files are on almost any home computer. While keeping personal and sensitive information on a home computer is relatively safe, if you plan …
Are viruses and malware affecting your computer efficiency? Try HijackThis. HijackThis, popularly known in the computing world as HJT, is one of the most effective spyware and malware removal software tool available for detecting and removing harmful viruses, spyware, worms, Trojans and other pests affecting Microsoft Windows. This program was originally developed by Merijn Bellekom, …
TEMPEST stands for Transient Electromagnetic Pulse Surveillance Technology. Computers and other electronic equipment release interference to their surrounding environment. You may observe this by placing two video monitors close together. The pictures will behave erratically until you space them apart. What is important for an observer is the emission of digital pulses (zeroes and ones) …
For many computer users privacy is important. If you use a computer for searching the web, there may be times when you prefer to not leave a digital trail of the sites you visited. For those looking to delete their search history, you should know it is extremely easy, here are some tips. Deleting Your …
X.509 is an ITU-T (ITU Telecommunication Standardization Sector) standard for PKI (Public Key Infrastructure) in cryptography, which, amongst many other things, defines specific formats for PKC (Public Key Certificates) and the algorithm that verifies a given certificate path is valid under a give PKI (called the certification path validation algorithm). X.509 History X.509 began in …