30 September 1997
Source: P. J. Ponder

    Date: Tue, 30 Sep 1997 19:06:47 -0400 (EDT)
    From: "P.J. Ponder" <ponder@wane-leon-mail.scri.fsu.edu>
    To: jya@pipeline.com
    Subject: ITL Bulletin for September 1997 (fwd)

    ---------- Forwarded message ----------
    Date: Mon, 29 Sep 1997 15:04:53 -0400 (EDT)
    From: Elizabeth Lennon <lennon@email.nist.gov>
    To: Multiple recipients of list <itl-bulletin@nist.gov>
    Subject: ITL Bulletin for September 1997

    CRYPTOGRAPHY STANDARDS AND SUPPORTING INFRASTRUCTURES:  A STATUS
    REPORT

    This bulletin provides an update on cryptography standards and the
    infrastructures that are being developed to support the use of
    cryptography by the federal government in protecting the
    confidentiality and integrity of information.

    Cryptography is an important tool for protecting information in
    increasingly open and interconnected information networks and
    systems.  The cryptographic standards and validation programs
    developed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology
    (NIST) help agencies to design, integrate, and use systems with
    cryptographic controls.  Currently NIST is reviewing existing
    cryptographic standards, soliciting ideas for new standards, and
    working with industry and government organizations to develop the
    infrastructures needed to support the effective use of
    cryptography.

    Background on Standards and Government Practices for Information
    Security

    Agency Security Policies.  Overall policies on the government’s
    information security practices are established by the Office of
    Management and Budget’s Appendix III, "Security of Federal
    Information Systems," of Circular No. A-130, "Management of Federal
    Automated Information Resources."  (See URL in For More Information
    Section below).  OMB directs agencies to apply management controls,
    including individual responsibility, awareness and training, and
    accountability, and to use technical controls to support sound
    management practices.  Agencies are advised to identify risks and
    to apply risk management practices in selecting appropriate and
    cost-effective controls.

    NIST’s Role.  Under the Information Technology Management Reform
    Act of 1996 and the Computer Security Act (Public Law 104-106),
    NIST is responsible for developing technical standards and
    guidelines for federal information resources.  These standards and
    guidelines are approved by the Secretary of Commerce for use
    throughout the federal government to protect sensitive,
    unclassified information and are issued by NIST as Federal
    Information Processing Standards (FIPS).

    Use of Standards.  General policies for the use of standards by
    federal organizations are provided in the Technology Transfer and
    Advancement Act of 1995 (P.L.104-113).  A key provision of the Act
    is that federal agencies are expected to use voluntary standards
    whenever possible, to support the development of such standards,
    and to avoid the creation of different standards for government and
    the private sector.

    An Update on Cryptographic-Related Federal Information Processing
    Standards

    Both private and public sectors depend upon information technology
    systems to carry out essential activities.  All organizations need
    good techniques for protecting the confidentiality, integrity,
    reliability, and availability of their information resources.
    Systems that carry out electronic financial transactions and
    electronic commerce must protect against unauthorized access to
    confidential data, and unauthorized modification of data.  In
    cooperation with the private sector and voluntary industry
    consensus standards organizations, NIST has undertaken several
    initiatives to ensure the development of high quality cryptographic
    standards and services into the next century.

    Data Encryption Standard

    Background.  The Data Encryption Standard (DES), issued in 1977,
    provides an encryption algorithm for protecting federal
    unclassified information from unauthorized disclosure or undetected
    modification during transmission or while in storage.  Based on
    secret key cryptography, the standard was initially issued for
    government use.  It was subsequently adopted as a voluntary
    industry standard (American National Standard X3.92-1981/R1987) and
    has been widely implemented by the private sector.  It is based on
    the work of the International Business Machines Corporation.

    Under the provisions of the DES, NIST is required to conduct a
    review every five years to determine whether the cryptographic
    algorithm specified by the standard should be affirmed, revised, or
    withdrawn.  The first review resulted in the reaffirmation of the
    standard in 1983; the standard was again reaffirmed in 1988
    following a second review; as a result of the third review, which
    was completed in 1993, the DES was reaffirmed for use through 1998
    as Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) 46-2.  It was
    recognized at the time that a new encryption standard may be needed
    by both government and industry after 1998.

    Strength of the DES.  The DES was developed to protect unclassified
    computer data in federal computer systems against a number of
    passive and active attacks in communications and computer systems.
    The security provided by DES cryptographic systems depends on the
    mathematical soundness of the algorithm, length of the keys, key
    management, mode of operation, and implementation.  It was assumed
    that people would try to attack the DES, but that their efforts
    would be limited by their resources and would be commensurate with
    the value of the protected information.

    Recently questions have been raised about the security and the
    continued use of the DES since there have been news reports that
    the DES has been broken.  The reports indicate that the method used
    to break the DES was a brute force attack, involving teams of
    people and tens of thousands of computers working for four months
    to try all possible keys for a given encryption.  This effort
    required considerable computing power to find one cryptographic key
    and to decode one message.

    NIST believes that the DES used in conjunction with good key
    management and modes of operation practices provides adequate
    security for many applications that protect information with a
    short security life.  FIPS 81 provides the specifications for the
    DES Modes of Operation.

    Users are advised to change cryptographic keys frequently and to
    protect their keys to minimize risks.  However, users should be
    aware that their sensitive information could be compromised if an
    attacker is willing to put considerable resources into the effort.

    Triple DES.  A more secure method for using the DES algorithm in
    three operations, called Triple DES, has been developed by the
    private sector.  These operations have been documented and
    specified as a draft American National Standard (ANSI X9.52) by
    Accredited Standards Committee X9 for Financial Services, which
    develops cryptography and public key infrastructure standards.
    Federal organizations that need security beyond that provided by
    the DES can use this standard.

    Development of the Advanced Encryption Standard

    In January 1997, NIST announced that it would begin a multi-year
    process to develop an Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) that could
    replace the DES and that could be used by government and industry.
    NIST believes that acceptance by both communities will promote
    long-term market stability, interoperability among different
    applications, and the use of high-quality security methods.
    Minimum acceptability requirements for the AES and draft criteria
    to evaluate candidate algorithms were circulated for review.  Many
    comments were received from the private sector, and a preliminary
    workshop was held in April 1997 to refine the requirements and
    criteria.  A call for candidate algorithms was announced in the
    Federal Register (September 12, 1997, Volume 62, Number 177, Pages
    48051-48058).  (Online via GPO Access: [wais.access.gpo.gov])

    The September 12 Federal Register notice describes the planned
    selection process and provides the minimum acceptability
    requirements and evaluation criteria that were developed.  It is
    intended that the AES will specify an unclassified, publicly
    disclosed encryption algorithm available royalty-free worldwide
    that is capable of protecting sensitive government information well
    into the next century.  Following the close of the submission
    period, NIST intends to make all submissions publicly available.
    An open public conference is being planned for the summer of 1998,
    at which time the submitter of each complete and proper nomination
    package will be invited to publicly discuss and explain the
    candidate algorithm.  Details on the selection process will be
    posted on the NIST Web site listed below.

    Expansion of the Digital Signature Standard

    FIPS 186, Digital Signature Standard (DSS), specifies the Digital
    Signature Algorithm (DSA), which is used in conjunction with FIPS
    180-1, Secure Hash Algorithm, for applications requiring the
    authentication of data integrity and the identity of the signer.
    FIPS 186 provides cryptographic techniques based on public key
    cryptography for generating and verifying electronic signatures,
    which can be used to verify the origin and contents of a message.
    FIPS 180-1 specifies a Secure Hash Algorithm (SHA-1) which can be
    used to generate a condensed representation of a message called a
    message digest.  These techniques, which were developed for the
    federal government, are also implemented in commercial products and
    in use by the private sector.

    NIST has requested public comments on additional signature
    algorithms that the federal government could endorse to
    authenticate electronic information and transactions and to assure
    high levels of integrity.  NIST hopes to identify the best and most
    cost-effective technologies and to expand the number of techniques
    that the federal government could use for digital signatures.  The
    announcement asked for comment on RSA and Elliptic Curve
    Cryptography technology as potential new algorithms for digital
    signatures.

    Key Agreement or Exchange

    Cryptographic services depend on the secure generation and
    distribution of keys (public and private).  Since there is no
    existing FIPS in this area, a standard is needed for the design and
    implementation of federal key agreement and exchange systems.  NIST
    has solicited public comments on potential technologies that could
    be considered for a future standard for public key-based
    cryptographic key agreement and exchange.  We have specifically
    asked for comments on RSA, Elliptic Curve, and Diffie-Hellman
    technologies.  More than one algorithm could be specified,
    consistent with sound security practices to give federal
    organizations more flexibility in using cryptographic systems.

    Public Key Infrastructure (PKI)

    Several activities are underway to support the development of a
    public key infrastructure (PKI) which provides the means to bind
    the public keys used in cryptographic functions to their owners and
    to distribute keys in large heterogeneous networks.  The use of PKI
    technology can help to increase confidence in electronic
    transactions and allow parties without prior knowledge of each
    other to conduct in verifiable transactions.  PKI technology was
    described in the July bulletin issued in this series and is
    available on Web pages listed below.

    PKI Pilots.  NIST is working with the Federal PKI Steering
    Committee established by the Government Information Technology
    Services (GITS) Board to coordinate approximately fifty PKI-related
    pilot projects, and with industry groups including the Internet
    Engineering Task Force PKIX Working Group and the Open Group’s
    Security Program Group.  Established under Executive Order 13011,
    GITS is conducting demonstration projects, pilots, and
    proof-of-concept projects in support of the Administration’s
    National Performance Review initiative.

    Interoperability Specifications.  In conjunction with 12 research
    partners under a cooperative research and development agreement
    (CRADA), NIST recently completed a Minimum Interoperability
    Specification for Public Key Infrastructure Components (MISPC).
    The specification provides a minimal set of features, transactions,
    and data formats for various certificate management components that
    make up a PKI.  NIST is developing a reference implementation of a
    public key certificate authority to test interoperability and
    security issues, and a specification to aid industry and government
    organizations in acquiring PKI components and services.

    Related Activities

    Public Forum.  A public forum on certificate authorities and
    digital signatures was held by the Department of Commerce in July
    1997.  The views of the private and public sector organizations
    were invited on various aspects of the public key infrastructure
    related to certificate authorities and digital signatures.  Papers
    resulting from this forum are available on the Web pages listed
    below.

    Key Recovery.  NIST is also exploring the use of key recovery
    technology through a broad agency agreement for several agency
    pilots and with the help of a special advisory committee.  An
    announcement was published in the Commerce Business Daily
    soliciting proposals for products and services that will
    demonstrate the viability of an infrastructure for key recovery.  A
    Key Recovery Demonstration Project has been established involving
    several government agencies to demonstrate the practicality of
    techniques to recover keys used in data encryption and to identify,
    test, and evaluate different key recovery products and services.
    This effort supports an Administration white paper entitled
    "Enabling Privacy, Commerce, Security, and Public Safety in the
    Global Information Infrastructure."  A technical advisory committee
    to develop a FIPS for the federal key management infrastructure has
    been established to provide industry advice on encryption key
    recovery for use by federal government agencies.

    Use of FIPS 140-1 Products

    FIPS 140-1, Security Requirements for Cryptographic Modules,
    specifies the overall requirements for the modules that implement
    cryptographic algorithms and methods.  Eleven areas related to the
    design and implementation of cryptographic modules are specified in
    FIPS 140-1, which is a framework for all other NIST cryptographic
    standards.  A testing program has been established to validate
    cryptographic modules and provide a measure of confidence to users
    and vendors that the standards are correctly implemented.  This
    effort is carried out under the auspices of the National Voluntary
    Laboratory Accreditation Program (NVLAP), and in cooperation with
    the Communications Security Establishment (CSE) of the Government
    of Canada.

    When issued in 1994, the standard provided for a transition period
    during which agencies could acquire products that conformed to an
    earlier standard.  The transition period ended this year, and now
    federal agencies are required to purchase equipment that has been
    validated for conformance to FIPS 140-1.

    Information about the validation testing and validated products is
    available on Web pages listed at the end of this bulletin.
    Agencies wishing to use other than FIPS-approved cryptographic
    algorithms to encrypt unclassified information or to apply digital
    signatures must waive the applicable FIPS.

    Summary

    As the use of information technology expands rapidly, the need for
    high-quality security techniques and cryptographic services
    increases.  NIST is working with government and industry
    organizations to make these services and the infrastructure
    elements needed for their delivery readily available.

    For More Information

    For access to Office of Management and Budget Circular A130:
    http://www.whitehouse.gov/WH/EOP/OMB/html/circulars/a130/a130.html

    For information about pilot tests using public key technology,
    contact:

     	The Public Key Infrastructure Steering Committee
    	1425 New York Avenue, NW
    	Suite C-126
    	Washington, DC 20220
    	Phone - (202) 622-1552
    	FAX -   (202) 622-9147

    For information about the activities of NIST’s Computer Security
    Division:  http://www.itl.nist.gov/div893/

    For information about computer security resources, bulletins,
    public key management, and other issues:   http://csrc.nist.gov/

    For access to public submissions on certification authorities and
    digital signatures:  http://csrc.nist.gov/ecforum/

    For information about products that have been validated for
    conformance to Federal Information Processing Standards:
    http://csrc.nist.gov/cryptval/