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«For those asking «who uses private keys generated by untrusted sources» — this could be implemented in hardware, for example a smart card. Binaries you don't have the source for or didn't compile yourself could also be affected.»

That would apply then to any algorithm, operating system, random number generator, or anything you use in life, not just RSA. Pretty weak argument against RSA
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David Knight: You are quite correct to advocate " walk gently in to that dark night" Perhaps, humankind will be attuned to that collective consciousness through engaging in acts such as these: Just as flying was thought of as an impossible dream till just a century ago, but might be in everyone's reach now, due to the computational and coordination achievements of this century; it is not unthinkable to use those very same approaches to fly-through our existential cornucopia without having to ruffle the feathers of anyone else. I am quite certain the humanities are very close to achieving this singularity as well as parity with all other sciences.
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Don't have it, it's long dead (2011). But the strings in it are Romanian.
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The first link is dead. Do you have the source of 8.txt? Just curious.
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ravenul.zzl.org/it/noi/up/8.txt That path intrigued me, so I did a bit of digging and I think I found the guy.

Mugur Constantin, 28 years old, from Radauti, Romania. He is a Computer Technician in London.
www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100006897076995

twitter.com/ravenul same nickname, face and constitution
rav3n.3x.ro «Raven Love to Hack Your Sistem!»
rav3n.3x.ro/aboutme.htm name, age(17 in 2002 when the page was created) and sign matches with profiles on other websites
rav3n.3x.ro/favorite.htm is friends with «sageata» and is from Radauti
ravenul.3x.ro/ «Raven & Popa Lucian-Constantin» aka (sageata)
www.facebook.com/CinemaStar.net Popa Lucian-Constantin aka «sageata» also from Radauti
www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100006897076995&and=CinemaStar.net Mugur Constantin and Popa Lucian-Constantin are friends

www.sfatulmedicului.ro/profil/ravenul_141487 this «ravenul» is 28 yo
www.bascalie.ro/ravenul this «ravenul» is 28 yo and a taurus

1337day.com/author/19589 this «ravenul» likes hacking
groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/linux.redhat.rpm/EEYsVl-dDMI this «ravenul» is interested in linux and security
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I wrote the Python implementation that this article is based on. I was too lazy to do a proper write-up, and I think this one is pretty good.

This port does have some subtle implementation errors, though.

The embedded key is the master *private* key, so anyone with this code can recover any RSA keys generated with it. I submitted a pull request on github that fixes it.

For those asking «who uses private keys generated by untrusted sources» — this could be implemented in hardware, for example a smart card. Binaries you don't have the source for or didn't compile yourself could also be affected.
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Awesome story! Thanks for sharing!
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You are right...it's not only theory:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dual_EC_DRBG
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Isn't that exactly what author refers to at the end of the article?
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Here is good response from reddit:

I think the idea is this one: What if your closed source Super Encryption Enterprise Edition generates keys on your own desktop, with this backdoor built in?
People had always known that sort of thing could be abused, but this is a method of doing so which isn't overly obvious.
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Funnily, the very same thing was posted to /r/crypto a few days ago but in Python. And I do mean exactly the same thing. http://redd.it/2ss1v5
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Joozek got the point. When you activate even the cheapest https server/domain you generate the private key locally with your openssl apache tool, then register the only public key to the Certification Authority.
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If I understood this correctly, you're saying that someone can decrypt your data if you use private key THEY generated. But who uses private keys obtained from untrusted sources?
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or as humans call it:kleptography, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kleptography
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See the subtitle.
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Well, is this just a translation? I've read original article in Russian back in 2011.
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Perhaps. I would ask the customer and take their direction. I assume as a freelancer, you're being paid by the hour/day, so it doesn't matter what is asked of you.
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Right, but isn't that too much for a freelancer who was asked to set up exim4 only?
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Great analysis, but the wrong solution.

You don't know how deep that hacker's rabbit hole goes, so you should have simply recovered/backedup the user's data, configuration files, etc, and filled the rabbit hole with cement — the format and reinstall the OS kind of cement.

Cool story though.
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Nice find, a lot of people would have given up and formatted pretty early on, which is definitely where the «smart hands» support was heading.