Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : Ask Michael Burke -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: HB who wrote (34638)	10/27/1998 1:43:00 PM
From: Ilaine	Respond to of 132070

>>>>the programs manage keys for use with external algorithms<<< That part's right, the program manages keys for use with an external algorithm, as I understand it, RSA. Correct me if I am wrong, but isn't RSA the algorithm? (Or does it generate algorithms, that's one of the things that I never could understand.) And the crypto programs use the algorithms to encrypt the data. It's really just random numbers, used to scramble data being transmitted, and then to unscramble it upon receipt. If you use the same key every time, it can eventually be broken. So, you have to use a different key every time. So, you use a public key (RSA) to generate a private key, and you give one copy of the private key to the recipient, and you keep one for yourself. It's cumbersome, but very effective, and worth it for some purposes. If you are interested in learning more, you may want to peruse the patents, which are posted at uspto.gov Tecsec's patents were assigned to it by the inventors, so if you put Tecsec in the search field, you can access it that way. Tecsec, last I heard, had received a contract from the US government for smart-card technology, which is a perfect use since the card can have the key without the card user being able to access it. I am not saying RSA has a hole, because it's not the crypto program, as I understand it. People who write the programs have to write a hole into them. PGP doesn't claim to be anything better than "pretty good." >>>was his program "the best"? If so, presumably he meant outside the major governmental crypto agencies. Unless he was inside one of them, in which case he is certifiable on the basis of his conversations with you<<< You left out a few possibilities. <g> >>>>Are lawyers involved with your money, or his crypto? If the latter, well that seems to be par for the course. If the former, I'm sorry to hear it.<<<< HB, I am a lawyer, so a lawyer is involved with my money. <g> I meant lawyers with his crypto. And I am genuinely sorry, because, as the saying goes, "to a hammer, everything looks like a nail," and to a lawyer (present company excluded) everything looks like a lawsuit. <ng> CobaltBlue

To: HB who wrote (34638)	10/27/1998 8:05:00 PM
From: Ilaine	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 132070

United States Patent 5,787,173 Scheidt, et. al. Jul. 28, 1998 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cryptographic key management method and apparatus Abstract A system for the secure communication of a message from a transmitting user to a receiving user using a split key scheme. Each user generates a key component using a cryptographic engine. The key component is a pseudorandom sequence of bits with an appended error detection field which is mathematically calculated based on the pseudorandom sequence. This key component is then sent out on a communications channel from the transmitting user to the receiving user. The receiving user also sends its key component to the transmitting user. Each location performs a mathematical check on the key component received from the other location. If the key component checks pass at both locations, the transmit key component and the receive key component, including the error detection fields, are combined at both locations, forming identical complete keys at both locations. The identical complete keys are then used to initiate the cryptographic engines at both locations for subsequent encryption and decryption of messages between the two locations. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Inventors: Scheidt; Edward M. (McLean, VA); Crowley; John J. (Rockville, MD). Assignee: TECSEC Incorporated (Vienna, VA). Appl. No.: 815,903 P.S. The above-named individuals are not the guy I was talking about. FYI, Langley is in McClean.