Distributed.net

distributed.net
Target:	Distributed computing
Operator:	Distributed Computing Technologies, Inc.
Country:	International
Website:	distributed.net
Project status
Status:	active
Start:	1997

distributed.net (official name Distributed Computing Technologies, Inc. or DCTI for short ) is a non-profit organization based in the USA . Its aim is to further develop the possibilities of distributed computing and to promote the use of the corresponding techniques. For this purpose, distributed.net carries out its own computing projects around the world, in which the participants make the unused computing power of their computers available.

Distributed.net is currently carrying out two computing projects.

Current computing projects

RC5-72

The aim of this project is to decrypt a message that was encrypted with a 72-bit key using the RC5 method . The decryption of this message is part of the "Secret-Key Challenge" of RSA Laboratories . In the project approach, all possible keys are tried out ( brute force method ) until the right key is found. For this purpose, the entire area is divided into individual packages, which are then checked. A package usually consists of (4.2 billion) combinations, with multiples being possible. The size of the packages depends primarily on the hardware used . ${\ displaystyle 2 ^ {32}}$

architecture	Remarks
AMD / Intel x86 compatible processor	from 386, Pentium III or higher recommended
PowerPC	PS3 , corresponding blade server
Graphics card - Nvidia CUDA compatible	8, 9, 200 series or higher
Graphics card - based on openCL	AMD, Nvidia, and in some cases newer Intel (with Intel Generic graphics card drivers, no OEM drivers) are supported on chip GPUs.

In May 2007, RSA Labs announced that it would not continue the competition. The distributed.net project will be continued until further notice. At the current computing speed, however, the project would not have searched the entire key space for over 600 years .

Using GPGPU computing, it is possible to significantly accelerate the computing speed. The graphics card does the calculations. The enormous potential becomes apparent when you compare a commercially available processor with a graphics card.

OGR-28

The OGR-28 project is looking for an optimal Golomb ruler of order 28. OGR projects are part of a potentially infinite series, as optimal Golomb rulers can be of any length.

Platforms (supported operating systems)

The Distributed.net client supports a variety of different platforms. With the exception of the communication protocols, the source code is open and can therefore be translated to almost any platform by experienced programmers.

The software is available for all common operating systems, including Microsoft Windows XP, Windows 7, Linux , FreeBSD , Mac OS . GPGPU clients are also available for Microsoft Windows 7, Linux and MacOS systems . This enables the graphics card to be used for the calculation.

Program (function)

The program can be divided into two blocks for a simple functional description. On the one hand there is the basic program, which has general program settings such as B. subscriber account, buffer sizes, runtime behavior, hardware detection or project priorities allowed, on the other hand, the highly optimized so-called cores.

The cores provide highly optimizing routines on processors or graphics cards that process the corresponding work units. These are further developed by volunteers and, if necessary, transferred to the official client after a test phase. This usually leads to performance gains, especially when a new architecture is introduced.

The program currently has a limitation; so the client cannot use the processor and the graphics card at the same time. In this case, a separate program instance must be downloaded, configured and started separately for both the processor and the graphics card.

history

In February 1997, Earle Ady Christopher and G. Stach II started a project with the aim of solving the RC5-56 part of the "RSA Secret-Key Challenge", ie finding the correct key . However, this first project was canceled due to a SYN flood attack on various computers.

A new project, led by Jeff Lawson , was then set up under the name "distributed.net" to continue the work. On October 19, 1997, after 250 days, the correct key was finally found. The next step was to decrypt another message encrypted with RC5, but this time with a 64-bit key. It took almost five years to find the right key.

Since then distributed.net has taken part in various competitions in the field of cryptography , including decrypting messages encrypted with DES .

List of previous projects as part of the "Secret-Key Challenge" of the RSA Laboratories

56 bit RC5 - successfully completed on October 19, 1997 (after 250 days, 47% of all keys were checked)
56 bit DES II-1 - successfully completed on February 24, 1998 (after 39 days)
56 Bit DES II-2 - ended on July 17, 1998 (not solved by distributed.net, but by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) after two and a half days with the EFF DES Cracker )
56 bit DES-III - successfully completed on January 19, 1999 (after 22.5 hours with the help of the EFF DES Cracker, which this time was part of distributed.net)
64 bit RC5 - successfully completed on July 14, 2002 (after 1757 days, 83% of all keys were checked)

Other finished projects

CS-Cipher Challenge - Successfully completed on January 16, 2000 (after 60 days, 98% of all keys were checked)
Optimal Golomb Ruler of Length 24 (OGR-24) - Successfully completed on October 13, 2004
Optimal Golomb Ruler of Length 25 (OGR-25) - Successfully completed October 24, 2008
Optimal Golomb Ruler of Length 26 (OGR-26) - Successfully completed on February 24, 2009
Optimal Golomb Ruler of Length 27 (OGR-27) - Successfully completed on February 19, 2014

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Web links

[1] Project page for RC5-72

[2] .plan entry on distributed.net by bovine from May 21st

[3] Database with measured values

[4] Project page for OGR

[5] SYN-Flood attacks on distributed.net

[geschichte-6] story of distributed.net

[7] End of the OGR-24 project

[8] End of the OGR-25 project

[9] End of the OGR-26 project

[10] End of the OGR-27 project