[net.crypt] Lucifer and DES

don@allegra.UUCP (D. Mitchell) (04/06/84)

With the source to Lucifer published, I have a few comments.  Lucifer
is an ancestor of DES.  I have heard rumors that it can be broken by
Key Reestimation.

For you would-be crypto hackers, let me tantalize you with the
following fact.  I have an implementation of DES written in C that
encrypts a block in 1 millisecond on a VAX 780 (8000 chars/sec).  I
guess I should see if I can get it released for you all.  I honestly do
not think it can be done faster, but it took a long time for me to see
the trick to go beyond about 3 or 4 milliseconds per block.  So, as
they say at IBM:

			THINK!