An Irish mathematician has solved a code-cracking challenge designed to test the security of alternative cryptographic systems. Led by 27-year-old Robert Harley, a team of 195 researchers used 740 computers over 40 days to prove that a 97-bit encryption system based on elliptic curves is more difficult to crack than a 512-bit system based on integers.
This was the latest in a series of elliptic curve cryptograpy (ECC) challenges set by Canadian encryption technology firm Certicom to encourage research in the application of elliptic curves in encryption systems. Systems based on elliptic curves have been known since the mid-1980s, but have only recently been adopted by leading encryption companies. Robert Harley is a member of the Cristal project at INRIA, France's National Institute for Research in Computer Science and Control. - Info: www.data.com/story/DCM19990930S0005
Meanwhile, a US team has completed what is probably the world's largest computation to yield a "yes/no" answer. Dr Richard Crandall's team has proved that the five-million-digit Fermat number F24 is non-prime. Crandall said that proving this took 10 to the power of 17 (100 quadrillion) calculations - the same number required to render the Pixar animated feature A Bug's Life. - Info: www.perfsci.com
Scoilnet's out: Ireland's long-awaited official education site, ScoilNet (www.scoilnet.ie) has been launched. Aimed at teachers, parents, primary and post-primary students, ScoilNet holds 800 lesson plans, worksheets and multimedia resources compiled by over 50 teachers and students.
Still a winning formula: The 1999 Esat Telecom Young Scientist of the year, Sarah Flannery, has won the 11th European Union Contest for Young Scientists in Greece. Students have until Friday to submit entries to the Esat Young Scientist 2000 competition. - Info: www.esat.ie/youngscientists
Picking up skills: Up to 225 jobs are planned in a £2 million investment in Belfast's ICL software development centre. A joint venture between Microsoft and ICL, the centre will develop products for government, education and financial services.
Check out the computers: Schools around the country are to receive over £1.2 million in computer equipment as part of the Tesco Computers for Schools programme. Over the coming month Tesco will deliver more than 7,000 items of computer equipment to 1,500 schools.
Copywrite: A landmark ruling from a US court has found in favour of freelance writers in the case of Tasini v New York Times, ruling that publishers must obtain separate electronic rights for freelance work. This means that US publishers may have to pay freelance contributors an extra fee for work reproduced in electronic databases. - Info: www.nwu.org
Ireland not suspect: The FBI has expressed concern about malicious changes being made to computer code under the guise of Y2K software fixes.
Share the market: Eircom has come under fire for challenging the decision on the Reference Interconnect Offer by the Office of the Director of Telecommunications Regulation (ODTR). At the launch of the Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators, Eddie Brennan said the legal challenge was a bid to frustrate the work of the ODTR. He added that Eircom would serve its customers better by embracing competition, rather than shoring up the barricades to it.
Trump card: The company that developed the EC1 card has opened offices in Ireland. The EC1 works like a CDRom, but is the size of a conventional business card. With a 30MB capacity, it can hold several minutes of video, music or 3D animation. - Info: tel 0404-40925
In brief... The US Commerce Department and Internet registrar Network Solutions have negotiated an agreement that allows competing businesses to register domain names for an annual fee of $6. . . Dun Laoghaire-based company Airtel ATN has won contracts to supply software to aviation electronics companies Rockwell Collins and ARINC. . . In a move aimed at recapturing a chunk of the disk storage market, IBM has released its Enterprise Storage Server, code-named Shark. . . Microsoft has launched bCentral, a new portal site for businesses online. . . The latest Irish business Internet package on the shelves is k-Commerce from Kelly Software. . .Compaq has launched yet another palm-size PC, the Aero 1520. . .Belfast company Creative Online Media has just completed the latest phase in creating a worldwide inter-office network for engineering and construction giant Mivan. . .