Computer Security Products

handles application data objects, certificate objects and public/private/secret key objects,
FORTEZZA used by NSA as a hardware implementation (``real token'') for CRYPTOKI.
Includes DES, 3DES, RSA, RC2, RC4, RC5, PEM, PKCS, X.509, Shamir Secret Sharing, Diffie Hellman Key Exchange

RSAREF: Cryptographic toolkit to facilitate rapid deployment of Internet Privacy-Enhanced Mail

Secure Distributed Environment (SecuDE)

SUP: (PD) GMD Darmstadt, Germany, Wolfgang Schneider
SRC: SecuDE Homepage (DE)
REM: Implementation of X.509, ASN.1, PKCS, PEM. Uses commonly accepted algorithms like RSA, DES, DSS...

Microsoft CryptoAPI

SUP

SRC

Software

REM

Cryptographic library that supports Win32(TM) applications. Hardware and software implementations of the library are called ``cryptographic service providers'' (CSP).

One CSP will be included in Windows NT and probably Windows 95. The OS will not load just any old CSP. CSPs have to be signed by Microsoft. The kernel contains a (hardcoded?) 1024 RSA public key that it uses to check the signature when the user tries to load a CSP. If the signature check fails, the CSP won't load. Microsoft says it will sign any CSP from anyone AS LONG AS THEY CERTIFY THAT THEY WILL FOLLOW THE EXPORT RULES. So you can get your CSP signed if you use exportable cryptography or if you agree not to send it outside the US and Canada, etc. But an end user can't just compile crypto code and use it as a CSP, even for his or her own use, without getting it signed by Microsoft first (actually, the CSP development kit does allow this, but it includes a special version of the OS kernel).
Includes: RSA

NSA CAPI

SUP

National Security Agency (NSA), Amy Reiss

SRC

Homepage

REM

First API definition by NSA. Second version announced for June 96. Implementations planned as Cryptographic Service Providers pluggable into Microsoft CAPI

Several accompanying APIs planned:

Certificate Management API
Authentication API
Key Management API
Audit API

Crypto++ 2.1

SUP

(PD) Wei Dai

SRC

Homepage

Software (US)

REM

C++ class library of cryptographic primitives (mostly other people's code, repackaged into classes). Compiled and tested on Borland C++ 4.5, MSVC 4.0, and G++ 2.7.2 on MS-DOS, Windows NT, and a variety of UNIX machines.

CryptoSystems available:

Encryption - IDEA, DES, 3DES, RC4, RC5, Blowfish, SAFER, RSA, ElGamal,
Digital Signature - RSA, DSA, LUC,
Hash function - SHA, MD5,
Secret Sharing, Zero Knowledge Proofs of Graph Isomorphism, etc.

SSLeay

SUP: (PD) Eric A. Young
SRC: Software (AUS); German mirror; SSLeay FAQ
REM: Royalty free software library implementing the Secure Socket Layer Protocol. Provides strong end-to-end encryption even outside the US (No US product).

Protocols

Secure HyperText Transmission Protocol (S-HTTP)

SUP

REM

Secure version of HTTP that uses an extra protocol specifier ``shttp://'' and adheres to the same dataflow conventions as HTTP, i.e., no interactivity between client and server.

Asymmetric key management typically using RSA (manual or Kerberos possible)
Application layer encryption + authentication + non-repudiation
All mechanisms including key lenghts negotiable
Exchange formats PKCS-7, PEM, MOSS

Privacy Enhanced Mail (PEM)

SUP: John Linn
SRC: Privacy enhancement for Internet electronic mail:; RFC 1421 Part I: Message encryption and authentication procedures,; RFC 1422 Part II: Certificate-based key management; RFC 1423 Part III: Algorithms, modes, and identifiers; RFC 1424 Part IV: Key Certification and Related Services
REM: Application layer encryption + authentication + non-repudiation

The Directory Authentication Service (X.509)

SUP: ISO, CCITT
SRC
REM: ISO Standard for public key exchange using a hierarchical infrastructure of trusted certification authorities. Clients may generate private keys on their own. Public keys may be used for arbitrary purposes, e.g., digital signatures (strong authentication) and/or public key encryption.

Secure Sockets Layer (SSL)

SUP

Netscape Communications

SRC

Documentation

REM

Session layer encryption + authentication (no non-repudiation),

RSA for key exchange during handshake/key establishment phase (server starts a session by sending his public-key + certificate, public key directory required),
Newer version also allows for other key exchange methods like FORTEZZA,
Symmetric algorithms for bulk encryption,
supports many higher protocols like HTTP, NNTP, etc.
Cannot provide non-repudiable proof of client origin as clients' private keys are not supported,
Key Management:
- VeriSign acts as global Key Distribution Centre (Trusted Third Party) and authenticates SSL Servers on a commercial basis. Examples: Apache SSL Server distributed by Community ConneXion
- Netscape Navigator interoperates with VeriSign as VeriSign's Public Key is hard coded into Netscape Navigator 2.0 and higher.

Internet Protocol 6 (IPv6)

SUP

IETF (R. Atkinson, P. Metzger)

SRC

IP-layer security architecture

RFC 1826 IP Authentication Header,

RFC 1827 IP Encapsulating Security Payload (ESP)

RFC 1828 IP Authentication using Keyed MD5

RFC 1829 ESP DES-CBC Transform

REM

Two alternative algorithm independent mechanisms:

IP Authentication Header (AH) RFC-1826 , MD5 mandatory-to-implement, no encryption required
IP Encapsulating Security Payload (ESP) RFC-1827 , DES-CBC mandatory-to-implement,
Prototyping efforts

MIME Object Service Security (MOSS)

SUP: ?
SRC: RFC 1848 MIME Object Security Services; Documentation
REM

S-MIME (Secure MIME)

SUP: ??
SRC: RFC 1847 Security Multiparts for MIME: Multipart/Signed and Multipart/Encrypted,; Software?? (US)
REM

Algorithms

Data Encryption Standard (DES)

SRC: Software?? (AUS)
REM: Symmetric block cipher with 64 bit input/output blocks and 56 bit keys.

Message Digest 5 (MD5)

SRC: RFC 1321 MD5 Message-Digest Algorithm
REM: Hash algorithm that produces 128 bit output.

RIPE-MD

SRC: Software (BE)
REM: Hash algorithms that produce 128-bit and 160-bit outputs, respectively.

Last modified: June 1, 1996

(Some links adapted: Birgit Pfitzmann, Jan 27, 1997)

Gerrit Bleumer
bleumer@acm.org