[HH] FPGA password cracking supercomputer

[Tom Metro]

Here's a creative, if ethically questionable, application for FPGAs.
 -Tom

Cloud service cracks VPN passwords in 24 hours
http://www.h-online.com/security/news/item/Cloud-service-cracks-VPN-passwords-in-24-hours-1656104.html

  At the Black Hat hacker conference in Las Vegas, encryption expert
  Moxie Marlinspike promised that his CloudCracker web service was able
  to crack any VPN or WiFi connection secured using MS-CHAPv2 within 24
  hours. The cost? Around $200.
  [...]
  With the help of a company called Picocomputing, Marlinspike has
  developed a processing server which is able to test 18 billion keys
  per second - a feat which would normally require 80,000 CPUs. The
  server is equipped with 48 programmable processing units known as
  field programmable gate arrays (FPGA). Each FPGA is programmed to
  provide 40 parallel processing units, each with a clock speed of 450
  MHz, for cracking DES.