[193] in DCNS Development
public key for MIT developers talk -- 5may92 11am-1pm in E40-302
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Mark Curby)
Tue Apr 14 16:43:40 1992
Date: Tue, 14 Apr 92 16:41:21 EST
From: mlc@MIT.EDU (Mark Curby)
To: developers@MIT.EDU, dcns@MIT.EDU, infosysm@MIT.EDU, network@MIT.EDU,
Cc: jdaly@MIT.EDU (Janet Daly)
Greetings software developers at MIT and folks interested in things that
interest software developers at MIT --
(please forward as appropriate)
The MIT IS DCNS Distributed Applications group invites you to attend a
presentation by Jeff Schiller on public key authentication technology.
The talk will be held Tuesday 5 May 1992 in the ACS Visitors Center
(E40-302) from 11am to 1pm. The talk will be targeted at network
application developers at MIT, but all are welcome to attend.
Public key technology appears likely to be the next major advance in
network security (after Kerberos) and will enable a number of new
network-based service such as secure email and conducting business
exchanges via the network. While there are still some details to be
worked out regarding licensing and distribution, etc. the technology is
now stable enough for developers to begin experimenting and developing
prototype systems which incorporate public key.
Jeff will discuss what developers can do to start experimenting and
prototyping public key services today, including:
- example programs they can look at
- specs and documentation
- software libraries, etc. available
- how to get test accounts/certificates to experiment w/ now
- and a best guess as to when public key infrastructure might be
available at MIT
As time permits he will also touch on:
- the importance of secure authentication systems on non-secure networks
- comparison of Kerberos & public key technologies, and other contenders
- state of public key technology today
- state of public key politics, etc. today
- how certification process will (likely) work
For those interested in doing some background reading on the topic I
suggest:
- "A new kind of cipher that would take millions of years to break"
Mathematical Games, Martin Gardner, Aug77 Scientific American pp120-124
[public key]
- RFC's 1113, 1114, 1115 [privacy enhanced email (aka PEM). Standards
for use of public key technology for Internet email.]
- "Kerberos: An Authentication Service for Open Systems" Steiner,
Neuman, & Schiller, USENIX 88. [Kerberos. Available from
athena-dist.mit.edu /pub/kerberos/doc/usenix.txt]
- "Kerberos Authentication and Authorization System" Miller, Neuman,
Schiller, & Saltzer, Project Athena Technical Plan 27Oct88. [Kerberos.
Available from athena-dist.mit.edu /pub/kerberos/doc/techplan.txt]
If you don't have access to these in electronic form you may send a
request for paper copy to davidh@mit.edu (David Hogarth).
- Mark
------------
Mark Curby
MIT Network Services MIT Room E40-342G
(617) 253-7725 77 Massachusetts Ave.
mlc@mit.edu Cambridge, MA 02139
