On 8/10/05, Carl Lowenstein <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > On 8/10/05, Ralph Shumaker <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Andrew Lentvorski wrote: > > > > > Ralph Shumaker wrote: > > > <Long string problem snipped> > > > > > > What on earth are you doing? > > > > > > This sounds like a bioinformatics string search. It's very much not a > > > brainteaser problem. There is at least one two volume set of some > > > whopping number of pages all about this stuff (Sorry, I don't remember > > > the name of the volumes). > > > > > > You should search for something like "string algorithms" with sequence > > > or bioinformatics thrown in for good measure. > > > > > > Actually, the problem presented is not nearly so deep. It has to do > > with my work in locksmithing. I don't think I want to learn a whole new > > field. I beleive my representation of the problem is rather complete > > and a sufficient model from which to work. Sooner or later, I will get > > it. I just hoped that someone else might be able to help me over the hump. > > Maybe -- or at least here is a vague pointer. > > A couple of years ago some computer people applied known computer > search algorithms to the problem of reconstructiong a master key using > some working keys and a key-cutting machine. The idea was to > reconstruct the master one tumbler at a time.
More information on this -- I remembered that I had read about this first in usenet news sci.crypt. That was enough clue to retrieve the original paper. A one-sentence summary is: "Applying the techniques of cryptanalysis, ordinarily used to break secret codes, to the analysis of mechanical lock design." The general reference is: Master-Keyed Lock Vulnerability, by Matt Blaze. < http://www.crypto.com/masterkey.html > The full research paper can be found at < http://www.crypto.com/papers/mk.pdf > Perhaps totally irrelevant, but interesting nevertheless. carl -- carl lowenstein marine physical lab u.c. san diego [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- [email protected] http://www.kernel-panic.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/kplug-lpsg
