kiravuo@kampi.hut.fi (Timo Kiravuo) (01/12/90)
Archive-name: alo-des/kampi.hut.fi Original-posting-by: kiravuo@kampi.hut.fi (Timo Kiravuo) Original-subject: Re: DES Availability Archive-site: kampi.hut.fi [130.233.224.2] Archive-directory: alo Archive-files: des-dist.tar.Z Reposted-by: emv@math.lsa.umich.edu (Edward Vielmetti) >>For those not aware, the U.S. Government guards the DES formula, > Please correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't DES or DES-like >encryption algorithms readily available? As far as I understand, the DES formula is public, but exporting impelemntations is prohibited in the USA. However there is nothing preventing one to make a DES implementation outside the USA and distributing it. Here in Helsinki University of Technology Antti Louko has written one, it is available by anonymous ftp from kampi.hut.fi (130.233.224.2), file is alo/des-dist.tar.Z. It was also posted to USENET comp.sources.??? group a while ago, the posting was dove via a moderator in Australia, since importing DES to the is legal by the US law. (Please note that whatever the US government has to say about DES does not apply to us outside the US territory, the most USA can do is to contact our government or send a spy killer or invade Finland like they did invade Panama.) As to what this has to do with viruses, I don't know, but I think that a public DES implementation might be interesting enough to many people in the virus field, so maybe the moderator will be nice and let this pass. - -- Timo Kiravuo Helsinki University of Technology, Computing Center work: 90-451 4328, home: 90-676 076 kiravuo@hut.fi sorvi::kiravuo kiravuo%hut.fi@uunet.uu.net