U.S. Considers Use Of Foreign Encryption

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August 10, 1999 (5:18 AM EDT)

Federal encryption authorities acknowledged Monday that virtually unbreakable code systems are available from foreign sources.

In fact, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) selected two European proposals as finalists for the U.S. government's next-generation encryption standard.

The computer industry has long challenged stringent unilateral U.S. export controls on encryption systems, saying comparable codes are openly available from foreign sources. Two bills are pending in Congress that would lift the unilateral export curbs on encryption systems in instances where foreign competitors offer similar technology.

NIST accepted on Monday a Rijndael code developed in Belgium and a Serpent code developed jointly in the United Kingdom, Israel, and Norway. Also selected as finalists were a Mars code developed by IBM, an RC6 code developed by RSA Laboratories, and a Twofish code by developed by Counterpane Systems.

The proposed codes are far more robust than the existing Federal Information Processing Standard Digital Encryption System, which has encryption key sizes of 128, 192, and 256 bits. The new codes are virtually unbreakable with as many as 34,035 possible keys, according to sources.

NIST is submitting the encryption proposals for expert comment. One will be selected as a draft finalist late in 2000 with a new standard completed by the summer of 2001.