Triple DES products hitting market

[Anonymous]

excerpted from:

Communications Week
No. 473, September 27, 1993
page 36


Cylink Triples Encryption
by Sharon Fisher


Sunnyvale, Calif. - Cylink Corp. has announced an encryption product
that improves security by encrypting data three times using current 
standards.

The Cylink product uses the Data Encryption Standard, which defines a 
56-bit key for scrambling messages to prevent access by unauthorized
users. DES was adopted in 1977 as the U.S. federal standard for data
encryption.

Skirting DES Limitations

Some users have expressed concern, however, that DES' 56 bits cannot
prevent a determined attacker from using more powerful hardware and
software to crack the code. The Cylink product addresses the problem
by using DES to encrypt the data more than once, according to company
officials.

Cylink's Cipher/Decipher-HSi offers triple-DES, which encrypts DES
data three times, and gives the 56-bit key the effect of a 112-bit key,
according to the company, based here. The triple-DES approach makes 
the Cylink product more secure than the government's proposed Clipper 
system, which uses an 80-bit key, the company said.

Users could get the triple-DES effect by manually encrypting data
three times, but the process would take three times as long as single
DES encryption, Cylink noted. Cidec-HSi uses improved circuit technology
that performs the three encryptions without taking that long, the
company said.

Cidec-HSi works at speeds of up to 2.048 million bits per second and
is available with a wide variety of interfaces, Cylink said. It
also includes a public key management system, which lets users
exchange keys so that they can read each other's messages. The device 
also offers an optional embedded channel service unit, which can
be connected directly to the public T1 carrier network, the company
said.

Cylink said it can retrofit current Cidec-HSi systems so they can
benefit from the new triple-DES technology.

AT&T Compatibitlity

The company said that Cidec-HSi meets compatibility standards for
use with AT&T's Accunet T1.5 and Extended Superframe Format services.

Cylink can be reached at 735-5800.