Interested, join us... I'll provide all the help required to get you up and running. E-mail me

Purpose : The RC5 Challenge is a distributed computing project using idle computers' processing time to crack an encrypted phrase using the brute force method.

How this is done : Simply by running a small application (146KB) and having occasional access to the internet. The application only runs when your computer's processor is idle (waiting for something to do). Which on most users machines is almost always. Processors 99% of the time are running idle. Why not then use your CPU to the full capacity!

What is RC5 : RC5 is the encryption algorithm being used. It is a symmetric block cipher developed by Ron Rivest for RSA Laboratories. RC5 has a variable word size, a variable number of rounds, and a variable-length secret key, so the user can explicitly manipulate the trade-off between higher speed [of de/encrypting] and higher security. RC5 is suitable for hardware or software implementations; the encryption and decryption algorithms are considered exceptionally simple.

Confused by all this : Visit RSA Labs FAQ on cryptography, a leading vendor of cryptography / security products.

Distributed.net's RC5 Challenge Mission Statement page

Stats, Stats, & Stats...

(as of March 25, 2002)

Team Rank: 1051

Active Members : 4

Tidbit : A Pentium III 450 does about 250 blocks running 24 hrs straight

Member who has cracked the most : me, over 1,600,000 blocks

Longest Running Team Member : me (since Oct. 28, 1997)

Platforms that our members run RC5 on : Various Windows and MacOSes

[Due to a member's request, all Team Stats are private (password protected), therefore the only way you can have access to the Team Stats is if you become a member, e-mail me for more info regarding that.]

RC5 Project