lear@turbo.bio.net (Eliot) (01/07/91)
In comp.org.eff.talk there has been some question as to whether DES
has been tampered with. I would appreciate someone from sci.crypt
explaining in laymen's terms the various issues involved.
I might also add that there is a fascinating book on the NSA written
by James Bamford who has something to say on the matter.
See _The Puzzle Palace_; James Bamford; Penguin Books, (c) 1982,1983;
ppg 436-440.
The book is an extremely well written history of the National Security
Agency, its predecessors, and its staff starting just before the end
of WW1, going up to 1980. When considering such literature, one must
evaluate how much is to be believed, because the government will
generally deny much of it. Bamford supports his case extremely well
with 80 pages of footnotes to his 650 page tome.
Although the people in sci.crypt probably have a better handle on it
than he did, Bamford claims that the NSA convinced IBM to shorten the
key from 128 bits to 56. Apparently in exchanged the NSA helped IBM
strengthen the S-box structures before DES was released as a standard.
Also, this was brought up in Senate Intelligence Committee hearings in
1977.
--
Eliot Lear
[lear@turbo.bio.net]