dfloyd@io.com wrote:
What, exactly is elliptic curve encryption?
Well, some other have already described it. I'll list some references I've found: A Course in Number Theory and Cryptography, 2nd edition, Neal Koblitz, Springer-Verlag. Chapter 6 is titled "Elliptic Curves" and is split into four parts: basics, cryptosystems, factorization, primality testing. Elliptic Curve Public Key Cryptosystems, Alfred Menezes, Kluwer Academic Publishers. Haven't had a chance to read this book yet. Looks pretty good though :) Algorithms for Modular Elliptic Curves, J. E. Cremona, Cambridge University Press. Found this book last week, along with the above mentioned Menezes book. Likewise, I haven't had a chance to read it yet. It is divided into three parts: description of contructing elliptic curves, a collection of algorithms, a huge list of tables. The algorithms are either in Fortran or in pseudocode (unless the Fortran used allows semicolons and the sh-like FI keyword).
(Only thing I knew that the NeXT nearly had it in its OS, but the heavy hammer of ITAR squashed that...)
Yeah, for a while a friend and I tried getting that to work, but we were never successful. Then, in an version upgrade, the encryption disappeared ;) -- Karl L. Barrus: klbarrus@owlnet.rice.edu 2.3: 5AD633; D1 59 9D 48 72 E9 19 D5 3D F3 93 7E 81 B5 CC 32 2.6: 088C8F21; 97 73 9E 8B 98 3E DD B5 E8 97 64 7E 20 95 60 D9 "One man's mnemonic is another man's cryptography" - K. Cooper