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Encryption
ENCRYPTION ISSUES BOIL OVER IN CONGRESS
AND INDUSTRY AS DES STANDARD IS CRACKED;
NEW LEGISLATION LAGS, SAYS NEW
BUSINESSTECH EDITORIAL.
06/23/97 -- NEW YORK, NY -- The U.S. Senate announced that it is
about to introduce a bill changing the treatment of encryption
technologies in the US to allowing greater use of the 56-bit "data
key." This information was released at the same time as news hit
that computer scientists and cypherpunks had won a challange to
decode that same 56-bit DES data key .
"The cracking of DES is of critical importance for ecommerce, the
Internet, and the World Wide Web," according to the latest
BusinessTech Editorial. "DES is the accepted cryptographic standard
currently used by government and commercial financial institutions to
protect important financial data and information, for example, routine
currency transfers between national commercial banks," the Editorial
explains.
"The stubbornness of the US government on cryptography issues is
tied to various law enforcement and intelligence-gathering initiatives
by agencies such as the FBI, CIA and NSA. The NSA, with top secret
operations and an extraordinarily complete collection of the latest and
most powerful computer gear, routinely reads international wire
traffic. The NSA uses its large computer systems to break crypto
codes, but thanks to breakthroughs in cryptographic technologies
such as public key and long key systems, law enforcement and
intelligence agencies can no longer crack strongly encrypted data,"
the Editorial continues.
The dispute stems from the fact that strong encryption is already
widely available and has been for more than a decade. US software
companies are allowed to supply strong encryption in products that
are distributed within the US, but all of their products destined for
locations outside US borders must contain weaker encryption
systems.
"Once strong encryption is allowed to be sold, distributed and
exported, electronic commerce and other forms of business on the
net will be set free," according to the Editorial. "Concerns about the
security of online transactions will whither away and electronic
financial transactions will blossom and spread across the globe.
Emoney will arise and prosper, but only if it is properly protected.
Encryption is the key to so much of the new Net age, and it is
imperative that the forces holding it in check be defeated, the same
way DES was cracked, by brute force, if necessary," concludes the
controversial essay.
Contact: Neal M. Goldsmith, Ph.D. & Edward Rosenfeld
Voice: 212-431-8700
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