NSA Turns To Commercial Software For Encryption (fwd from brian-slashdotnews at hyperreal.org)

[Dave Howe]

Eugen Leitl wrote:
>    [1]Roland Piquepaille writes "According to eWEEK, the National
>    Security Agency (NSA) has [2]picked a commercial solution for its
>    encryption technology needs, instead on relying on its own
>    proprietary code.
  I was under the impression they had just licenced their *patent* - I would
assume that the NSA were fully aware of EC, but were unwilling to admit to
any prior art (and licencing the patent avoids the potential embarrassment
if an NSA system were discovered to be already using this patented
technology - remembering that other than prior art invalidating a patent
which is a fairly drawn out legal process, there is no other defense against
patent infringement)
  I doubt the NSA need, trust or want anyone else's actual software for EC
:)