NOW READ THIS
("Security Advisory")
Submitted by: Bill Hickey
NCVA List Master
NRT-0348 PS-3 Cracks Passwords 100x Faster than Intel Processors:
A New Zealand-based security researcher claims to have used the yearl-old Sony
Playstation 3 (PS3) to crack passwords at speeds 100 times faster than achieved
on Intel hardware, according to an online Australian news report. Security
consultant Nick Breese presented his findings to the Kiwicon hacker conference
in Wellington, New Zealand, where he stated that "eight-character 'strong'
passwords can be broken [using the PS3] in a couple of days whereas before it
would take weeks." His accelerated brute force technique means passwords protecting
Office, PDF, ZIP and Lotus Notes ID files can reportedly be cracked with "breathtaking
speed," although many other password types remain unaffected by the claimed speed
increase.
The PS3 can also be used to break basic encryption schemes, Breese said, although
widely used ciphers such as the 128-bit Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) remain safe.
The gaming console is said to be perfect for cracking passwords because its chips
are optimized to rapidly perform the calculations required to model 3D environments.
Breese's presentation came just weeks after Russian company Elcomsoft claimed to
have accelerated password cracking by a factor of 25 by using the processors found
on PC graphics cards, according to the article.
(www.smh.com.au 26NOV07)