Ha ha ha ha har har ha ha ha....
Stop it, you're killing me: The Recodable Locking Device, which uses microelectromechanical system (MEMS) technology so small that it takes a microscope to see it, is a series of tiny notched gears that move to the unlocked position only when the right code is entered. It's the first known mechanical hardware designed to keep unwanted guests from breaking codes and illegally entering computer and other secure systems. Still, and this is why I mention it, you should check out the incredibly cool picture here. That wheel is 300 microns in diameter, or "about the size of the period at the end of a sentence."
But the press release is just too much. I can't wait to read what Schneier writes about this in the next Cryptogram. One for the doghouse? Get this: "Computer firewalls have always been dependent on software, which means they are 'soft' and subject to manipulations," says Larry Dalton, manager of Sandia's High Integrity Software Systems Engineering Department. "Our device is hardware and is extremely difficult to break into. You have one and only one chance in a million of picking exactly the right code compared to a one in 10,000 chance, with many additional chances, in most software firewalls. After one failed try, this new device mechanically shuts down and can't be reset and reopened except by the owner." Wow! Sounds, like, double super top secret secure! I get it now: software = soft, hardware = hard. LOL! Who writes this stuff?
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Stop it, you're killing me:Still, and this is why I mention it, you should check out the incredibly cool picture here. That wheel is 300 microns in diameter, or "about the size of the period at the end of a sentence."
But the press release is just too much. I can't wait to read what Schneier writes about this in the next Cryptogram. One for the doghouse? Get this:Wow! Sounds, like, double super top secret secure! I get it now: software = soft, hardware = hard. LOL! Who writes this stuff?
- jim 3-06-2003 8:43 pm