Blog: Researchers Find Weakness in Common Digital Security System

Researchers Find Weakness in Common Digital Security System
University of Michigan News Service (03/03/10) Moore, Nicole Casal

University of Michigan (UM) researchers have found weaknesses in the RSA authentication encryption method, which is used to protect both media copyright and Internet communications. The scientists discovered they could breach the system by varying the voltage supply to the holder of the "private key," which would be the consumer's device in the case of copy protection and the retailer or bank in the case of Internet communications. Private keys contain more than 1,000 digits of binary code and would take longer than the age of the universe to guess, says UM doctoral student Andrea Pellegrini. However, using the voltage disrupting method, the UM researchers were able to obtain the private key in about 100 hours. Changing the electric current confuses the computer and causes it to make small mistakes in its communications with other clients. These faults reveal small pieces of the private key. After enough faults were created, the researchers were able to reconstruct the key offline without damaging the device.

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