Security for UNIX ... looking for crypt() ...

[Bo Nygaard Bai]

In article <13087 at smoke.BRL.MIL> gwyn at smoke.BRL.MIL (Doug Gwyn) writes:

>The export control concerns are solely due to legal considerations
>and government bureaucracy, not because anyone is seriously worried
>about crypt() "falling into the wrong hands".

Don't forget protectionism. This is, as i see it, the only possible reason.

What is an algorithm with export restrictions doing in UNIX ?

Secure NFS, mail etc. uses some form of the DES algorithm. When a SUN
workstation leaves the US it has no des(1) or crypt(1), and no DES
chip. This makes it virtually impossible to use secure NFS. 

If DES can't be used outside of the US, then no part of UNIX software
should depend on it. DES must be be released globally, or be removed
totally from UNIX and replaced by a globally available encryption
standard.

--
.___ o .__ |         | Bo Nygaard Bai  | Department of Computer Science ,_//(
|__. | |   |/        |                 | University of Aalborg (AUC)   /  |  \
___| | |__ |\ nature | bai at iesd.auc.dk | DENMARK                       A  U  C