[Cryptography] NSA and cryptanalysis

grarpamp grarpamp at gmail.com
Wed Sep 4 01:44:18 PDT 2013


>> - Given the huge amount of material classified these days, SECRET doesn't
>> seem to be a very high level any more, ... really important stuff is
>> compartmented (SCI), and Suite B is not approved for it - it has to be
>> protected by unpublished Suite A algorithms.

SCI is an access control, not a separate classification level.
Though the specific compartmentalization might require
various other crypto.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classified_information
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sensitive_Compartmented_Information
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special_access_program

> [ insert campaign for Snowden to release Suite A specs here. ]

So far his dataset has not shown any access to, nor much interest,
regarding the crypto dept. Then, even if it does drop someday, you
have to wish that the news reporters publish the actual doc instead
of uselessly paraphrasing it in an effort to claim interpretive credit.

If there's breaks with any "B" or other respected public algos,
you can bet they keep that well compartmented. Losing some
node somewhere is no big deal. Going dark on all your nodes
as a result of wholesale crypto replacement response would
be a big deal.

Knowledge of "A" would indeed be interesting to instructive.



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