Re: "Alien" cryptanalysis

From: David Wagner (daw_at_mozart.cs.berkeley.edu)
Date: 05/19/03 

Date: Mon, 19 May 2003 16:24:17 +0000 (UTC)

Douglas A. Gwyn wrote:
>Skipjack was somewhat different from previous generally
>known block ciphers, but it was also somewhat similar.

I concur with Doug Gwyn. In some respects, Skipjack feels pretty
different to me from most block ciphers in the open literature. For one
thing, Skipjack is exceptionally elegant, which certainly inclines one to
suspect unusually deep knowledge on the part of its creators. The source
(the NSA) of Skipjack undoubtedly added some mystique. For that reason,
Skipjack was a little like "alien tech". Still, Skipjack also shares
some basic similarities with other block ciphers in the open literature.

RC4 is another one that felt a little like "alien tech" when I first saw
it. It is so different and elegant from anything I had ever seen before.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: "Alien" cryptanalysis
    ... In some respects, Skipjack feels pretty ... >different to me from most block ciphers in the open literature. ... It is so different and elegant from anything I had ever seen before. ... Your reasoning resonates. ...
    (sci.crypt)
  • Re: "Alien" cryptanalysis
    ... In some respects, Skipjack feels pretty ... > different to me from most block ciphers in the open literature. ... The fact that Skipjack has 32 rounds does not make it elegant though. ... By comparison RC5 with 16 rounds is not only faster, ...
    (sci.crypt)
  • Re: Where *IS* Tom?
    ... >I don't sell or promote my own brand of file encryption tools [or sms ... Doug Gwyn was in a good discussion of SKIPJACK. ... Tom St Denis wrote: ...
    (sci.crypt)
Loading