Weekly Edition
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KaKaRoTo: How the ECDSA algorithm works
On his blog, Youness Alaoui (aka KaKaRoTo) describes
the Elliptic Curve Digital Signature Algorithm (ECDSA), which can be used
to cryptographically sign messages or other data. He covers the math
behind the algorithm in both a simplified and more detailed view. In
addition, he discusses where Sony went wrong with its ECDSA implementation
in early versions of the PlayStation 3 firmware: "Once you know the
private key dA, you can now sign your files and the PS3 will recognize it
as an authentic file signed by Sony. This is why it’s important to make
sure that the random number used for generating the signature is actually
“cryptographically random”. This is also the reason why it is impossible
to have a custom firmware above 3.56, simply because since the 3.56
version, Sony have fixed their ECDSA algorithm implementation and used new
keys for which it is impossible to find the private key.. if there was a
way to find that key, then the security of every computer, website, system
may be compromised since a lot of systems are relying on ECDSA for their
security, and it is impossible to crack."
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