Re: Dual EC DRBG Memo

It's not the actual spec I'm interested in - it's the memo, which could detail any number of things; how they were able to pressure NIST, theoretical attacks, actual attacks, known vendors, limitations, etc. Names, basically. I want to see if there are any names. R On Wed, Sep 11, 2013 at 12:15 PM, Yan Zhu wrote:

This is the most recent revision of the document in which DUAL_EC_DRBG was presented (specifically, in SP800-90A): http://csrc.nist.gov/publications/PubsDrafts.html#SP-800-90-A%20Rev.%201,%20...

Interestingly, review of this document was reopened for public comment a few days ago "in light of recent reports."

Looks like the version that nytimes links to can be found herehttps://code.google.com/p/squeak-cc-validation/source/browse/trunk/fips/SP80... .

It hasn't been confirmed that Dual EC DRBG is used for anything important in practice, AFAIK. See http://crypto.stackexchange.com/questions/10189/who-uses-dual-ec-drbg.

On Wed, Sep 11, 2013 at 11:34 AM, Rich Jones wrote:

...

NYT confirming suspected Dual EC DRBG backdoor, citing leaked memo, but didn't include the PDF/PPT/mbox/nfo/whatever.. Does anybody have a copy?

From http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/09/10/government-announces-steps-to-restore-confidence-on-encryption-standards/?src=twrhp&_r=1&

But internal memos leaked by a former N.S.A. contractor, Edward Snowden,

...

suggest that the N.S.A. generated one of the random number generators used in a 2006 N.I.S.T. standard — called the Dual EC DRBG standardhttp://web.archive.org/web/20060930163233/http://csrc.nist.gov/publications/...— which contains a back door for the N.S.A. In publishing the standard, N.I.S.T. acknowledged “contributions” from N.S.A., but not primary authorship.

R

-- Yan Zhu http://web.mit.edu/zyan/www/

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