Wassenaar summary (and a funny new loophole)

Ben Laurie ben at algroup.co.uk
Thu Dec 10 11:58:31 PST 1998



Ulf Möller wrote:
> Since the definition differentiates algorithms by symmetry rather than by
> their cryptographic properties, there is no restriction whatsoever on
> asymmetric secret-key encryption algorithms. Those algorithms typically
> are not based on factorization or discrete logarithms. That is, they are
> no longer controlled by the Wassenaar arrangement.

Hmm - so if I defined a new crytpo algorithm, SED3, say, that looks like
this:

SED3(k,x)=3DES(backwards(k),x)

where backwards(k) is k with its bits written backwards, then the
3DES/SED3(k1,k2) combination is exportable (where k1 is related to k2,
of course, by k2=backwards(k1))?

Cheers,

Ben.

-- 
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