Re: Short Signature required

From: David Cross [MS] (dcross_at_online.microsoft.com)
Date: 11/06/03 

Date: Thu, 6 Nov 2003 05:23:00 -0800

No, ECC is not supported by Windows or CryptoAPI at this time. 

-- 
David B. Cross [MS]
--
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.
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"Ken Cattanach" <randd@no_spam.opdicom.com> wrote in message
news:O%23wSCOEpDHA.2868@TK2MSFTNGP09.phx.gbl...
> Hi,
>
> We are developing an application for Win 98, Me, 2000, XP and 2003.  Part
of
> the application's functionality is required to be activated by entering a
> special code - similar to MS Windows XP Activation...
>
> I was wanting to utilize assymetric cryptography to generate and verify
the
> activation codes, however algorithms like RSA generate digital signatures
> that are the same size as their key.  Not everyone is connected to the
> internet and manual entry of the code is a requirement.  Obviously with a
> 512 bit or 1024 bit key this is too long for a user to type in.
>
> There seem to be a lot of products that require activation out there, many
> of which claim to using public key cryptography - how do they generate
such
> short activation codes?
>
> One thing that I am looking at is using Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC).
> Because of its small key size it generates much smaller signatures.  Does
> anyone know if this is a good idea?  If so, then does anyone know of any
> good commercial or free ECC libraries?  I'd prefer ECDSA compliance and if
> it were a windows compatible CSP then that would be even better...
>
> Oddly enough, I noticed that in the CAPICOM documentation in MSDN Library
> there is mention of ECDSA in the form of a CSP type definition:
>
>       CAPICOM_PROV_EC_ECDSA_SIG The CSP that supports the Elliptic Curve
> Digital Signature Algorithm (ECDSA) functions and algorithms required for
> digital signatures.
>
>
> However, I couldn't see a Cryptographic Service Provider of this type.
Does
> this mean that ECDSA is actually going to be supported by Windows soon?
>
> Thanks.
>
> Ken.
>
>

Relevant Pages

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