[87014] in Cypherpunks
Re: Emphasizing a point by Donald Eastlake re key recovery
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Carl Ellison)
Wed Sep 24 17:15:48 1997
Date: Wed, 24 Sep 1997 10:15:45 -0400
To: Ross Anderson <Ross.Anderson@cl.cam.ac.uk>
From: Carl Ellison <cme@cybercash.com>
Cc: cypherpunks@toad.com, Ron Rivest <rivest-only@theory.lcs.mit.edu>,
cme@cybercash.com
Reply-To: Carl Ellison <cme@cybercash.com>
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At 09:34 AM 9/23/97 +0100, Ross Anderson wrote:
>There is also the point that the vast majority of encryption keys are
>actually used for authentication rather than confidentiality. The keys
>that encrypt your bank card PIN en route from the ATM to the bank, the
>keys in your satellite TV decoder, the keys in your gas meter and your
>postal meter - in fact the majority of all DES keys in use - are about
>authentication. In theory most of them could be replaced by digital
>signature mechanisms but given the size of the installed base, it
>won't happen anytime soon.
For what it's worth, I once got an opinion from NSA's export control office
that I could use any kind of crypto I wanted (e.g., even triple-DES) if all
I'm doing is protecting a channel carrying a password (like the PIN),
because that's an authentication function and therefore to be encouraged. I
didn't get this in writing, however, so I'd have to go for it again.
- Carl
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