On applying molecular computation to the Data Encryption Standard

Recently, Boneh, Dunworth, and Lipton (1996) described the potential use of molecular computation in attacking the United States Data Encryption Stand ard (DES), Here, we provide a description of such an attack using the stick er model of molecular computation. Our analysis suggests that such an attac k might be mounted on a tabletop machine using approximately a gram of DNA and might succeed even in the presence of a large number of errors.