Could you please expand upon how this secure certificate concept would work, for the benefit of myself and the list? Unless there is more to it than I currently comprehend, this only authenticates results as coming from specific users, rather than authenticating that the result is correct and genuine.
For instance, how can a new user who has had no previous contact with GIMPS prove that they have completed a Lucas-Lehmer test correctly?
(Naturally, the GIMPS secret algorithm would always be vulnerable to reverse-engineering. I am aware that modularising Prime95/mprime would not change this risk.)
Brian J. Beesley wrote:
>I realise that the code >for generating verification codes must remain restricted,No - there is an alternative, which is for results submitted to be accompanied by a secure certificate generated by the server. >because that is >the only authentication that work has really been done and done correctly. There are a couple of points here: (1) the verification code may be crackable; (2) there may be ways of persuading the program to submit results without actually executing all the iterations required. If every user had a (free) secure certificate, all results submitted would be traceable to the individual user. This scheme would also make it possible for other clients to use the automatic server interface, instead of having to rely on the manual forms (& not getting PrimeNet credit for work completed).
-- ======= Gareth Randall ======= _________________________________________________________________________ Unsubscribe & list info -- http://www.ndatech.com/mersenne/signup.htm Mersenne Prime FAQ -- http://www.tasam.com/~lrwiman/FAQ-mers
