Sun Asks Hackers to Take a Crack

Hack this!

Sun Microsystems Inc. is challenging three renowned computer experts to tackle what the company says is its uncrackable new Internet security program.

“The catch is that if they do crack it, they have to tell us how so we can fix it,” said Eric Schmidt, Sun’s chief technical officer.

Cryptographer Whitfield Diffie, consultant Tsutomu Shimomura and programmer Dan Farmer have been hired to do everything they can to break into Sun’s new Java and SunScreen technology.

SunScreen is a piece of hardware that plugs into a computer and sends messages to the Internet. It scrambles the outgoing message into what Sun says is an uncrackable code--as long as the message is received by another SunScreen at the other end.

If it works as promised, SunScreen will allow sensitive data such as credit card numbers to be shipped over the Internet without fear.

“SunScreen has the potential to really move commerce into the Internet,” said Hans Von Braun of Creative Strategies Research in San Francisco.

Java is an Internet programming language that Sun claims is virus-proof. Users would be assured that no matter what they downloaded from the Internet using Java, their hard drive could not be infected.

“You cannot write a virus in Java,” Schmidt said.

Diffie is renowned for writing and breaking codes. Shimomura is the San Diego security expert who led FBI agents to alleged super-hacker Kevin Mitnick earlier this year. Farmer helped write and distribute SATAN, a program that allows people to probe networks for security flaws.