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Cryptanalysis of symmetric and asymmetric ciphers is computationally extremely demanding. Since the security parameters of almost all practical crypto algorithms are chosen such that attacks with conventional computers are computationally infeasible, the only promising way to tackle existing ciphers (in the absence of mathematical breakthroughs) is to build special-purpose hardware. Dedicating those machines to the task of cryptanalysis holds the promise of a dramatically improved cost-performance ratio so that breaking of commercial ciphers comes within reach.

This contribution describes the design and realization of the reprogrammable machine COPACOBANA (Cost-Optimized Parallel Code Breaker), which is optimized for running cryptanalytical algorithms. The primary design goal was to produce a re-programmable low-cost design for less than BC 10,000 which is applicable for attacking the Data Encryption Standard (DES) in less than nine days.