Prime-number cracking case hikes online security fears

Many of the world's foremost mathematicians were to gather in Palo Alto, California, in March this year to investigate a recent break-through in number theory that could have enormous implications for cryptography and the security of communications and economic transactions on the Internet. The security of online communications may be at stake. When you send your credit card number or any sensitive information over the Internet, it is usually encrypted using a system based on the virtual impossibility of factoring extremely large numbers. Factoring means figuring out what two numbers were multiplied to produce a given number. When the numbers are very, very large - 200 digits and more - the number of possibilities is so enormous that even the fastest computer cannot do it. A somewhat related problem called primality testing, which had stumped mathematicians for decades - was recently solved by a team (Manindra Agrawal and two undergraduates, Neeraj Kayal and Nitin Saxena) of number theorists at the Indian Institute of Technology in Kanpur, India. The Indian team's solution was completely unexpected, and it turned out to be relatively simple - only 12 lines of computer code. The primality breakthrough "opens the possibility that for factoring, something is lurking around the corner," Ron Graham, president of the Mathematical Association of America, said by telephone form San Diego. The RSA cryptosystem uses both prime numbers and factoring. To decrypt the message, you have to know what those two prime factors are. The product of the two primes can be and is made public - hence the name, public-key cryptography - and that is how people are able to send encrypted messages. But only those who know the two prime factors can decrypt it. As long as those two prime factors remain secret, the code is uncrackable and eavesdroppers can't read the message. The new primality test tells you only whether the given number is prime or not. If the number is composite - not prime - the test does not find its factors and the primality test does not appear to offer any direct clue about how to do that. Some mathematicians have speculated that the problem may be unsolvable. Primality testing was in somewhat the same situation, and now that an elegant solution to that has appeared, talk of unsolvability has been put aside. The Clay Mathematical Institute in Boston wanted to give an award to the three Indians for their accomplishment. 

The Asian Age - March 12, 2003

Can Software Beat Terrorism 

Captain Steve Luckey, Chairman of the National Security Committee of Air Line Pilots' Association, USA, is convinced that smart data mining software could spot a hijacker or a terrorist before he boards the plane. He has helped develop a new Computer Assisted Passenger Prescreening System (Capps II). As soon as a person books a seat on a flight giving his full name, address, phone number and date of birth, he will automatically activate Capps II, which will instantly scan and mine government, commercial, and private databases for information on financial and transactional data, consumer goods purchase data, housing information, telecommunications records, health records. and law enforcement and legal records. The system is programmed to detect any unusual pattern of behaviour indicating a potential threat. Each pre-screened passenger would be labeled either as green (let him go); yellow (hold him for a further check); or red (ground him for thorough investigation and possible arrest). Reacting to the proposal, Katie Corrigan, a US Civil Liberties Union Legislative Counsel, said: "The system threatens to create a permanent blacklisted underclass of Americans who can't travel freely. Anyone could get caught up in this system, with no way to get out." It is natural to assume that the names of yellow-coded passengers would be shared with not only other domestic agencies and foreign institutions in the USA, but also with foreign government intelligence agencies, depending upon the level of mutual cooperation. Looking at the recent arrests of terrorists in Pakistan, many people bet this is one sure way to get them. But if the information is incorrect and the person is mislabeled, he may carry a silent stigma without knowing what is hurting him. He may be deprived of job opportunities and social benefits, because he may now know which data base has inaccurate information about him. So, the ultimate question is: Can data mining and profiling software, like the DNA, technology, save an innocent man accused wrongly of being what he is not?

(NB Batra, Professor of Communications, Norwich University, Vermont, USA)

The Statesman - March 12, 2003

Car Watch - The Mother of All Remotes

You can keep in touch with your car as closely as you do with your children. You could tell the engine to warm itself up half an hour early on a frosty morning. And in return, your car could keep up in good standing with your neighbours by alerting you when its alarm is blaring for no good reason and by allowing you to turn it off -even if you're too far away to hear it. These are the features of the new Clifford Matrix RS3, easily the most advanced remote-control and alarm system yet devised for cars. Its installation cost ranges from $600 to $900. For what it's worth, Clifford will pay your insurance deductible if your car is stolen on its watch. The Matrix has an impressive range - 400m in open country, which means you could start warming the car from a good seven minutes' walk away. (To be safe, Clifford has the ignition shut itself off after 12 minutes if there's no key in it.). The Matrix can be set to vibrate rather than beep when the alarm goes off - which should mean more sleep for the rest of your family.

TIME Magazine - April 7, 2003

India develops 'silent' radar 

Bangalore - With the help of Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL), India has developed a low-probability intercept radar for naval applications that cannot be detected by an incoming aircraft and can escape from an anti-radiation missile attack. "This radar is one which is protecting itself by not allowing the incoming aircraft to detect its presence," BEL's Chairman and Managing Director V.K. Koshy told newspersons here on Wednesday. "The low probability intercept radar developed by BEL does the radiation in a special way at a very low level of power," Koshy said. Dubbed as a "silent radar", it can be saved from anti-radiation missile attack by the aircraft since it cannot be detected by the aircraft, he noted. According to Koshy, the main features of the new radar are: nil personal hazard, high resolution, fully solid state and low power consumption. BEL has also developed a handheld secure radio, as well as digital satellite news gathering system to provide live news coverage, he added.

The Times of India - April 17, 2003.

Disaster Warning - Now SMS can also be an SOS

Kiran Trivedi, 27, a lecturer in Bhavnagar Engineering College, and two of his students, Jaigiri Goswami and Mehul Jajal, have put together a system of vibration sensors and IT network to develop an "emergency messenger system" (EMS) which can send out an SMS message within 20 seconds of a natural disaster taking place. And the activation is automatic. If plugged to a seismograph, it will give out earthquake alert within 20 seconds - faster than the shock waves can travel. Now the trio are trying to include the quake's intensity on the Richter scale on the SMS. This system can be used in case of floods too by placing a sensor at the danger level on a river bridge or a dam. The vibration sensors electronically convey the alert to a computer equipped with a special software which is constantly searching for the ominous signal. The SMS costs only Rupees 500/- to install. A small price to pay for saving thousands of lives. 

India Today - April 7, 2003

Food for Thought

There are plenty of teams in every sport that have great players and never win titles. Most of the time, those players aren't willing to sacrifice for the greater good of the team. The funny thing is, in the end, their unwillingness to sacrifice only makes individual goals more difficult to achieve. One thing I believe to the fullest is that if you think and achieve as a team, the individual accolades will take care of themselves. Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence win championships.

: Michael Jordan
(1963-, American Basketball Player, Actor)

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There is something that is much more scarce, something rarer than ability. It is the ability to recognize ability.

: Robert Half, American Businessman