If the govt and all its agencies used Clipper for all their communications, they would be vulnerable to attack from foreign govts that have bought the keys from spys. Despite being in escrow, I can't imagine they are really as secure as everyone seems to think. If random govt agencies can get the keys for legal wiretaps, spys will also be able to do so. Does Clinton have the right to listen in on NSA communication? If he tried he might find that they aren't using Clipper internally (or that they keys aren't in the proper escrow locations).
Does Clinton have the right to listen in on NSA communication? If he tried he might find that they aren't using Clipper internally (or that they keys aren't in the proper escrow locations).
Of course they aren't using Clipper, at least not for anything sensitive. They know better than that. Clipper is not a secure system. Skipjack may be wonderful, but the whole setup totally lacks key security. Given their institutional paranoia, they wouldn't touch Clipper with a 1024-bit prime. Eli ebrandt@jarthur.claremont.edu
Eli Brandt <ebrandt@jarthur.claremont.edu> wrote:
Of course they aren't using Clipper, at least not for anything sensitive. They know better than that. Clipper is not a secure system. Skipjack may be wonderful, but the whole setup totally lacks key security. Given their institutional paranoia, they wouldn't touch Clipper with a 1024-bit prime.
Skipjack might have a decent design, but considering that it uses 10 byte keys, it will probably be feasible to mount a brute-force attack on it within a decade or so. (As is currently possible with DES 7-byte keys.)
participants (3)
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Eli Brandt -
Matthew J Ghio -
tomh＠bambi.ccs.fau.edu