Stephan Assmus - 2009-03-14 10:50 :
I don't know what benefit it has to prove that a couple thousand computers (or millions?) can crack some 512 bit key in a couple months, which seems to be what some projects are about.
Prove that encryption is not as secure as it is often touted to be. How useful this is depends on the currently used encryption schemes and their "crackability", but the RC5 project in its early phase was sure useful in showing that the then-used 48-bit keys were anything but secure. Right now we're in a lull regarding this, but with the future many-core SMT CPUs, key security will take a strong hit again compared to available hardware.
While I wouldn't participate in key-cracking contests now, they do serve a useful purpose providing empirical facts about computer and web (in)security. This affects all users and companies who do commercial transactions via the WWW, so I don't regard this as useless.
Christian
