ProtectStar™: FollyCrack’s an impossible nut to crack

12. March 2009

Miami, FL, USA, 6 March 2009 – ProtectStar Inc., the worldwide independent IT and communications security company, recently announced that the security crackers’ competition known as FollyCrack has proven to be an impossible nut to crack.
The original aim of FollyCrack was to crack the algorithm of a text file that was encrypted using the ProtectStar AES algorithm. ProtectStar raised the prize money for the competition several times – the most recent hike coming in September of last year, when ProtectStar raised the stakes to $50,000 in the hope of providing a sufficient incentive to put the functionality and performance of the encryption algorithm to the test.

Despite the large number of contest entrants, after nearly 400 days, no one has managed to decrypt the encrypted text file and crack the ProtectStar AES algorithm.
“We’re pleased at the large number of people who have participated in FollyCrack. However, not a single contest entrant has been able to provide a solution – or even an approach to one – or crack our encryption algorithm,” notes ProtectStar chief executive Christopher Bohn.
But, Mr. Bohn hastens to add, this should not be taken to mean – at least not yet – that the ProtectStar AES algorithm offers absolute security since “our competition has merely provided initial proof of security – proof that does not indicate anything about any ‘infinite’ security provided by the algorithm.”
Consequently, the ProtectStar research team is considering the possibility of reviving FollyCrack at some point by offering a considerably higher prize. Until then, interested persons can continue to try to decrypt the original text file, for which ProtectStar is offering a $1,000 consolation prize.

10. September 2008

ProtectStar™ to raise the prize money again for the FollyCrack crackers competition to a total of US$ 50,000

Miami, FL, USA 10.09.2008 – ProtectStar™ Inc., the worldwide independent IT and communications security company, has announced that it will double the prize for the FollyCrack security crackers’ competition, bringing the prize value up to USD 50,000.

The FollyCrack competition – originally launched at Christmas 2007 for young mathematics and encryption geniuses – was for the first time extended to January 2008, due to high popularity. The initial starting prize of USD 5,000 was also doubled to USD 10,000 and in March 2008 to USD 20,000. Now the competition has an additional incentive in the form of another increase in prize money to USD 50,000.
The crackers competition FollyCrack will expire on January 1, 2009.

Since its launch on 07.12.2007, FollyCrack registered more than forty thousand hits on its website. Despite the high popularity – as evidenced by the number of entries – so far, the participants have not succeeded in decoding the contents of the encrypted data. Entries are encouraged from young, talented individuals with a penchant for mathematics and encryption. FollyCrack is part of the ProtectStar™ young experts promotion campaign targeting anyone aged between sixteen and twenty-five years.

For further details and the chance to enter, please visit the following link: http://www.follycrack.com

17. March 2008

ProtectStar™ doubles prize money again for the FollyCrack competition to a total of 20,000 US dollars

Bradenton, FL, USA 17.03.2008 – ProtectStar™ Inc., the worldwide independent IT and communications security company, has announced that it will double the prize for the FollyCrack security crackers’ competition, bringing the prize value up to USD 20,000.

The FollyCrack competition – originally launched at Christmas 2007 for young mathematics and encryption geniuses – was for the first time extended to January 2008, due to high popularity. The initial starting prize of USD 5,000 was also doubled to USD 10,000. Now the competition has an additional incentive in the form of another increase in prize money to USD 20,000.
Since its launch on 07.12.2007, FollyCrack registered more than ten thousand hits on its website. Despite the high popularity – as evidenced by the number of entries – so far, the participants have not succeeded in decoding the contents of the encrypted data.

Entries are encouraged from young, talented individuals with a penchant for mathematics and encryption. FollyCrack is part of the ProtectStar™ young experts promotion campaign targeting anyone aged between sixteen and twenty-five years.

For further details and the chance to enter, please visit the following link: http://www.follycrack.com

08. January 2008

Second chance – ProtectStar™ to double the prize for the FollyCrack competition

Bradenton, FL, USA & London, UK; January 8, 2008 – ProtectStar™ Inc., the worldwide independent IT and communications security company, has announced that it will double the prize for the FollyCrack security crackers’ competition, bringing the prize value up to USD 10,000.

The company has aimed this competition to young experts with a penchant for mathematics and encryption. FollyCrack is part of the young experts promotion campaign targeting anyone between sixteen and twenty-five years of age.

Originally intended as a Christmas competition, the FollyCrack competition will be extended in response to the high popularity it has received. More than a thousand visits were recorded on the competition website, www.follycrack.com, before competition kick-off on December 7, 2007.

07. December 2007

ProtectStar™ to launch the FollyCrack Crackers’ competition for the winter holiday season