[2826] in cryptography@c2.net mail archive
Re: NSA Declassifies Algos
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Michael Paul Johnson)
Tue Jun 23 17:24:45 1998
Date: Tue, 23 Jun 1998 14:28:27 -0600
To: cryptography@c2.net
From: Michael Paul Johnson <mpj@ebible.org>
In-Reply-To: <199806231925.PAA07216@homeport.org>
At 03:25 PM 6/23/98 -0400, Adam Shostack wrote:
> The woman at 301-688-6524 me that the info will be on
>the NIST web site tomorow afternoon. (She wanted to know what
>company I was with, too.)
The man at 301-688-6524 asked me if I was a reporter. When I said "No," he
gave me this URL: http://csrc.nist.gov (which has no sign of Skipjack or
KEA release on it, yet).
This is an interesting development, indeed...
>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
>
