ITAR vs. Diffie-Hellman Key Exchange?
In the discussions about people sniffing the net and the need for encrypted telnets, one problem that has come up is the ITAR hassles that make exporting Kerberos politically incorrect, though John Gilmore has gotten them to admit that the Kerberos bones is none of their businesss :-) However, is Diffie-Hellman exportable? After all, it's not crypto, it's *just* key exchange, and people can plug in their own triple-DES from the usual sources. It looks to me like it's probably legal, though if you were to then transmit the password by XORing with the login key or some such probably-unsafe behaviour it might not be. I had heard somebody say there would be an updated RSAREF version including Diffie-Hellman key exchange, though it's not in the package I just ftp'd from rsa.com. Is this correct, and is there a planned release date? Thanks; Bill # Bill Stewart AT&T Global Information Solutions, aka NCR Corp # 6870 Koll Center Parkway, Pleasanton CA, 94566 Phone 1-510-484-6204 fax-6399 # email bill.stewart@pleasantonca.ncr.com billstewart@attmail.com # ViaCrypt PGP Key IDs 384/C2AFCD 1024/9D6465
However, is Diffie-Hellman exportable? After all, it's not crypto, it's *just* key exchange, and people can plug in their own triple-DES from the usual sources. It looks to me like it's probably legal, though if you were to then transmit the password by XORing with the login key or some such probably-unsafe behaviour it might not be.
I think the export restrictions refer to "secret messaging". DH creates a shared secret. I doubt it can be exported. brad
Full Kerberos, with DES, *is* available outside the US. The US allows export of cryptographic *binaries* for authentication purposes. For example, it is possible to get DECathena, which contains Kerberos with DES, which is compatible with MIT Kerberos. It even contains libraries, but not the functions to encrypt data for privacy, just enough to create checksummed messages. Its just that the SOURCE code is not available, but it is fairly simple to generate an exportable binary suite. I doubt DH is exportable, since it is key exchange, which in general is not exportable. Jim, care to comment? Yes, there is a version of RSAREF w/ DH included (I have a beta-test version, although I haven't played with it a lot). I don't know when this will be released to the world. -derek
Full Kerberos, with DES, *is* available outside the US. The US allows export of cryptographic *binaries* for authentication purposes. For example, it is possible to get DECathena, which contains Kerberos with DES, which is compatible with MIT Kerberos. It even contains libraries, but not the functions to encrypt data for privacy, just enough to create checksummed messages. Its just that the SOURCE code is not available, but it is fairly simple to generate an exportable binary suite.
I doubt DH is exportable, since it is key exchange, which in general is not exportable. Jim, care to comment?
Yes, there is a version of RSAREF w/ DH included (I have a beta-test version, although I haven't played with it a lot). I don't know when this will be released to the world.
Where can I get a copy of this, or just the patches to patch RSAREF? Or even D-H itself would be nice - I'd like to hack together an encrypted telnet/rlogin suite for use when I'm on the road, so I can get into my system at the house from the laptop and not have to worry about someone snarfing my login/password combo... I've got RSAREF, BTW ... haven't looked at it much, though... -- Ed Carp, N7EKG ecarp@netcom.com 510/659-9560 "What's the sense of trying hard to find your dreams without someone to share it with, tell me, what does it mean?" -- Whitney Houston, "Run To You"
# From: wcs@anchor.ho.att.com (bill.stewart@pleasantonca.ncr.com # # However, is Diffie-Hellman exportable? After all, it's not crypto, # it's *just* key exchange, For that matter, the trivial use of the Dining Cryptographers algorithm really doesn't involve anything I consider True Crypto: it's just coin flips and xors -- more of an "encoding" than an "encryption". Notice there is no encryption/decryption key. As in DH, the information emerges in the end if you follow the protocol. # be an updated RSAREF version including Diffie-Hellman key exchange, Try writing to burt@rsa.com and asking for it. They sent it to me. strick
participants (5)
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Brad Huntting -
Derek Atkins -
erc＠khijol.yggdrasil.com -
strick -- strick AT versant DOT com -- henry strickland -
wcs＠anchor.ho.att.com