[Cfrg] Requesting removal of CFRG co-chair

Cari Machet carimachet at gmail.com
Thu Jan 16 12:04:38 PST 2014


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Cari Machet
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On Thu, Jan 16, 2014 at 8:50 PM, Moritz <moritz at headstrong.de> wrote:

>
> https://www.ietf.org/mail-archive/web/cfrg/current/msg03554.html
>
>
> Dear IRTF Chair, IAB, and CFRG:
>
> I'd like to request the removal of Kevin Igoe from CFRG co-chair.
>
> The Crypto Forum Research Group is chartered to provide crypto advice
> to IETF Working Groups.  As CFRG co-chair for the last 2 years, Kevin
> has shaped CFRG discussion and provided CFRG opinion to WGs.
>
> Kevin's handling of the "Dragonfly" protocol raises doubts that he is
> performing these duties competently.  Additionally, Kevin's employment
> with the National Security Agency raises conflict-of-interest
> concerns.
>
>
> Dragonfly Background
> ----
> Dragonfly is a "Password-Authenticated Key Exchange" protocol (or
> "PAKE").  Dragonfly was proposed to CFRG 2 years ago [PROPOSAL].
> Compared to better-known PAKEs, Dragonfly has no security proof, a
> lack of extensive security analysis, nonfunctional complications added
> for IPR reasons, and some security issues [REVIEW].
>
> Dragonfly became a hot topic recently when the TLS WG disputed CFRG's
> alleged report that Dragonfly was "satisfactory", as well as disputing
> that this report reflected CFRG consensus [TLS_1].  After extensive
> criticism of Dragonfly, the TLS WG ceased work on a Dragonfly
> extension [TLS_2].
>
>
> NSA Background
> ----
> The National Security Agency ("NSA") is a U.S. Intelligence Agency
> which is believed to devote considerable resources to:
>  - "Influence policies, standards and specifications for commercial
> public key technologies"
>  - "Shape the worldwide cryptography marketplace to make it more
> tractable to advanced cryptanalytic capabilities" [BULLRUN]
>
> While much is unknown about these activities, the NSA is known to have
> placed a "back door" in a NIST standard for random number generation
> [ECDRBG].  A recent report from the President's Review Group
> recommends that the NSA:
>  - "fully support and not undermine efforts to create encryption standards"
>  - "not in any way subvert, undermine, weaken, or make vulnerable
> generally available commercial software" [PRESIDENTS]
>
> This suggests the NSA is currently behaving contrary to the
> recommendations.
>
>
> Reasons for requesting Kevin's removal
> ----
> 1)  Kevin has provided the *ONLY* positive feedback for Dragonfly that
> can be found on the CFRG mailing list or meeting minutes.  The
> contrast between Kevin's enthusiasm and the group's skepticism is
> striking [CFRG_SUMMARY].  It's unclear what this enthusiasm is based
> on.  There's no record of Kevin making any effort to understand
> Dragonfly's unusual structure, compare it to alternatives, consider
> possible use cases, or construct a formal security analysis.
>
> 2)  Twice Kevin suggested a technique for deriving the Dragonfly
> password-based element which would make the protocol easy to break
> [IGOE_1, IGOE_2].  He also endorsed an ineffective attempt to avoid
> timing attacks by adding extra iterations to one of the loops [IGOE_3,
> IGOE_4].  These are surprising mistakes from an experienced
> cryptographer.
>
> 3)  Kevin's approval of Dragonfly to the TLS WG misrepresented CFRG
> consensus, which was skeptical of Dragonfly [CFRG_SUMMARY].
>
> 4)  Kevin's NSA affiliation raises unpleasant but unavoidable
> questions regarding these actions.  It's entirely possible these are
> just mistakes by a novice chair who lacks experience in a particular
> sort of protocol and is being pressured by IETF participants to
> endorse something.  But it's hard to escape an impression of
> carelessness and unseriousness in Kevin's work.  One wonders whether
> the NSA is happy to preside over this sort of sloppy crypto design.
>
> While that's of course speculation, it remains baffling that an
> experienced cryptographer would champion such a shoddy protocol.  The
> CFRG chairs have been silent for months, and haven't responded to
> attempts to clarify this.
>
>
> Conclusion
> ----
> The position of CFRG chair (or co-chair) is a role of crucial
> importance to the IETF community.  The IETF is in desperate need of
> trustworthy crypto guidance from parties who are above suspicion.  I
> encourage the IAB and IRTF to replace Kevin Igoe with someone who can
> provide this.
>
> Thanks for considering this request.
>
>
> Trevor
>
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