NIST to propose cryptographic APIs

patent rights issues for years. "They're not trying to work with industry on this," he said.

This is unfair. NIST have made efforts to work in both US, and international industry groups on crypto APIs. For example NIST are represented this week (here) along with IBM, HP, Novell, Olivetti, Bull, ICL, Amdahl, SCO, Sun, SNI, Andersens etc at the X/Open Security Working Group.

NIST plans to unveil the APIs in about a month.

The NIST draft FIPS has already been contributed, along with other inputs from industry and government such as the draft X.9 Layered API for Cryptographic Modules, IBM crypto APIs, Mosaic Interface Control document, SESAME Basic Cryptographic APIs, Olivetti Cryptographic APIs (etc), as input to X/Open. I recall that the NIST crypto APIs work was also presented to IEEE POSIX last year.

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With the APIs, the user's application could make use of any cryptographic algorithm, regardless or whether it's Digital Encryption Standard, Skipjack or RSA, Smid said.

I'd be more interested in what kind of an API they have for SkipJack. Are they real API's or are we talking BlackBox programming?

I guess more black than "real". Example: The following are the main paremeters for the Encipher primitive: identifier 1 selects DES, 2 selects Skipjack mode ECB, CBC, cipher feedback, output feedback plaintext key iv feedback number of bits chain whether chaining required, if so: where in chain status - pvm