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Re: NSA denies our 3DES license



Robert Moskowitz says:
> >So there you have it. NSA makes good on its threat to ANSI X9 that
> >triple DES would not be exportable.
>
> This raises an interesting question WRT RC5 and smb's note.
> Can RC5 parameters be set so that it reaches 3DES strength, and if so, if
> the keying protocol allows for full parameter control, might NSA do the same
> with RC5 as it is doing to 3DES?  Or specify that the keying protocol lock
> down a certain set of RC5 parameters?

1. Since the number of rounds can be as large as 255 and the same is true
   for the key length, probably RC5 can approach 3DES strength, further 
   analysis pending.

2. It seems obvious, that no software will be licensed, unless the
   institution in question can provide guarantees that the
   limit on number of rounds and length of key are
   unmodifiable. If such a guarantee is not 
   satisfactory, I'd expect the license
   to be denied.

> OOOps, what have I done?  The NSA watchers of this list (not meaning Mark
> and his fellows, but the 'other side') way now go off and have to figure
> this all out  :)

(:-)
-- 
Regards,
Uri		uri@watson.ibm.com
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