Assignment 19

In reading this assignment, I was surprised at the unorthodox methods possible in attacking RSA.  The one that was difficult to understand was how the variance helped us use timing to attack RSA.  It makes sense to use the mean to attack RSA, so you know how mush time one would expect each number to take in the decryption process, but I didn't quite follow the use of the variance.

Still, the timing attack to me was fascinating.  It just goes to show that often there are unforeseen holes in the things we use in life.  Something that is very strong can have a weakness in a part you didn't expect.  We can't put too much trust in security systems; as their improved, people will find more and more ingenious ways of attacking them.  Cryptography is no simple game.