The RC5-64 Project is an collaborative effort by distributed.net to tackle the 64-bit RSA Data Security Secret Key Challenge. The Secret-Key Challenge actually consists of thirteen separate but similar
contests. Having successfully completed the RC5-32/12/7 contest (RC5-56) in
October of 1997, distributed.net is now concentrating its resources
on tackling the RC5-32/12/8 contest (RC5-64).
The task involves testing (at most) 2^64 (18,446,744,073,709,551,616)
keys to find the one that properly decrypts the contest message.
This is a monumental undertaking that will require an enormous amount
of computing power to succeed. Participants from all over the
internet provide that power in the form of spare CPU cycles on their
own personal computers. Together they have helped to make the Bovine
Project the largest and most powerful distributed computer on Earth!
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