[2420] in cryptography@c2.net mail archive
Re: Existing digital phone encryption
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Phil Karn)
Tue Mar 31 11:04:18 1998
Date: Tue, 31 Mar 1998 00:50:25 -0800 (PST)
From: Phil Karn <karn@qualcomm.com>
To: shamrock@netcom.com
CC: cryptography@c2.net
In-reply-to: <3.0.2.32.19980330235915.008d7620@netcom11.netcom.com> (message
from Lucky Green on Mon, 30 Mar 1998 23:59:15 -0800)
CAVE is in the Common Cryptographic Algorithms appendix to IS-95 and
IS-54. It's supposedly available only under some sort of
agreement. But I believe copies have leaked. Dave Wagner can probably
provide details. :-)
As far as anybody knows, CAVE is actually a fairly good hash function.
The main objections to it are a) its unpublished nature (meaning it
hasn't been widely reviewed) and b) various IPR complications. One
could well question the choice of CAVE given the variety of other
well-scrutinized and freely available hash functions.
CAVE is not to be confused with CMEA, which Dave Wagner et al cracked
last year. CMEA is used to encrypt dialed digits and a few other
miscellaneous things; it does not encrypt voice. But even that tested
NSA's limits.
Phil
