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Re: Photuris generality




> Because the generality of Photuris has apparently lead to the
> misconception that it is applicable to every current and future
> cryptographic mechanism, I have added the following Design Notes:

>
>        Although attributes offer great flexibility, only a few
>        well-chosen algorithms are specified. This provides opportunity
>        for intensive review by the cryptographic community, reduces
>        implementation complexity, and improves potential for
>        interoperability.
>
> Bill.Simpson@um.cc.umich.edu


Bill --

The above is completely off the mark.

What cryptographers want and expect of a protocol like Photuris is 
that it works under the assumption that each of its primitives 
is instantiated to meet the (standard) definition of the goal of that 
primitive.  You certainly don't have that in Photruis.  Adding 
some sort of proviso like the one you suggest isn't going to do 
anything to solve this problem.  You do not facilitate analysis 
by saying that Photuris is only required to work when its 
primitives are drawn from a certain concrete set of possibilities; 
exactly the opposite-- you render cryptographic analysis impossible.


Phil