[2825] in cryptography@c2.net mail archive
Re: NSA Declassifies Algos
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Adam Shostack)
Tue Jun 23 15:38:03 1998
From: Adam Shostack <adam@homeport.org>
In-Reply-To: <199806231842.OAA20286@dewdrop2.mindspring.com> from John Young at "Jun 23, 98 02:37:59 pm"
To: jya@pipeline.com (John Young)
Date: Tue, 23 Jun 1998 15:25:53 -0400 (EDT)
Cc: cryptography@c2.net
The woman at 301-688-6524 tells me that the info will be on
the NIST web site tomorow afternoon. (She wanted to know what
company I was with, too.)
Adam
John Young wrote:
| Thanks to Ed Roback, NIST:
|
|
| http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Jun1998/b06231998_bt316-98.html
|
| DoD Press Release, June 23, 1998:
|
| No. 316-78
| IMMEDIATE RELEASE
| June 23, 1998
| (703)695-0192(media)
| (703)697-5737(public/industry)
|
| ENCRYPTION FORMULAS DECLASSIFIED
|
| The Department of Defense today announced the decision by the
| National Security Agency to declassify both the Key Exchange
| Algorithm and the SKIPJACK encryption algorithm used in the
| FORTEZZA(tm) personal computer card. FORTEZZA(tm) provides
| security at the desktop in the Defense Message System and other
| DoD applications. This marks the first time that the NSA has
| declassified such information and made it commercially available.
|
| This declassification is an essential part of the Department of
| Defense's efforts to work with commercial industry in developing
| reasonably priced computer protection products. This
| declassification decision will enable industry to develop software
| and smartcard based security products, which are interoperable
| with FORTEZZA(tm). The availability of such products will enhance
| the protection of DoD's sensitive but unclassified and critical
| non-mission communications.
|
| The decision to release SKIPJACK (an 80 bit encryption algorithm
| that is not extensible to higher key lengths) and KEA (a 1024 bit
| key exchange algorithm) is restricted to these particular
| algorithms, and does not apply to other classified NSA algorithms.
| The SKIPJACK and KEA algorithms and their source codes have been
| declassified pursuant to Executive Order 12958.
|
| Vendors interested in obtaining more information on this matter
| should contact the National Security Agency Public Affairs Office
| at 301-688-6524.
|
| [End]
|
--
"It is seldom that liberty of any kind is lost all at once."
-Hume
