[2002] in cryptography@c2.net mail archive
Re: secret history of the development of PK crypto
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Joe Reuter)
Wed Dec 24 13:23:47 1997
Date: Wed, 24 Dec 1997 09:54:06 -0800
From: Joe Reuter <reuter@alaska.dh.trw.com>
To: karn@qualcomm.com
Cc: smb@research.att.com, cryptography@c2.net, mab@crypto.com,
karn@qualcomm.com
In-Reply-To: <199712240447.UAA29040@servo.qualcomm.com> (message from Phil
Karn on Tue, 23 Dec 1997 20:47:08 -0800 (PST))
Reply-To: Joseph.Reuter@trw.com
>[description of the use of conventional crypto and precision timing
for nuclear weapons command and control.]
>
>I'm not sure how public key cryptography is especially helpful here,
>as conventional encryption would work just fine.
Public key crypto provides an additional level of security. With
symmetric crypto, the people who *built* the bomb in the first place
know the firing code. With asymmetric crypto (PK), they still know the
encryption key, but they don't know the firing key.
--
Joseph A. Reuter, Wizard-in-Training, speaking for myself alone
reuter@alaska.dh.trw.com or Joseph.Reuter@trw.com
"Olorin I was in my youth in the West that is forgotten."--J. R. R. Tolkien
