Category Archives: Cryptography

NSA’s penetration of RSA security was two-pronged: researchers

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Infiltrated: Two NSA tools exacerbated the RSA software's vulnerability. Photo: Reuters

Security industry pioneer RSA adopted not just one but two encryption tools developed by the US National Security Agency (NSA), greatly increasing the spy agency's ability to eavesdrop on some internet communications, according to researchers.

In December it was reported the NSA had paid RSA $US10 million ($10,800,000) to make a now-discredited cryptography system the default in software used by a wide range of internet and computer security programs. The system, called Dual Elliptic Curve, was a random-number generator, but it had a deliberate flaw or "back door" that allowed the NSA to crack the encryption.

A group of professors from Johns Hopkins, the University of Wisconsin, the University of Illinois and elsewhere now say they have discovered that a second NSA tool exacerbated the RSA software's vulnerability.

The professors found that the tool, known as the Extended Random extension for secure websites, could help crack a version of RSA's Dual Elliptic Curve software tens of thousands of times faster, according to an advance copy of their research shared with Reuters.

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While Extended Random was not widely adopted, the new research sheds light on how the NSA extended the reach of its surveillance under cover of advising companies on protection.

RSA, now owned by EMC, did not dispute the research when contacted by Reuters for comment. The company said it had not intentionally weakened security on any product and noted that Extended Random did not prove popular and had been removed from RSA's protection software in the past six months.

"We could have been more sceptical of NSA's intentions," RSA chief technologist Sam Curry said. "We trusted them because they are charged with security for the US government and US critical infrastructure."

Mr Curry declined to say if the government had paid RSA to incorporate Extended Random in its BSafe security kit, which also housed Dual Elliptic Curve.

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NSA's penetration of RSA security was two-pronged: researchers

Cheap randomness delivers real security

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Summary:Modern cryptography protocols require real randomness. Sadly, most Random Number Generators (RNG) are pseudo-random and, therefore, hackable. Here's a cheap RNG for the rest of us.

In the wake of the Snowden revelations it's clear that all communications should be encrypted. But how?

Crypto systems require a public and a private number - and the latter should be totally random. But achieving randomness from a digital system is practically impossible - which is why you see the term "pseudo-random" number generators (p-RNG).

For convenience and cost p-RNGs are commonly used, despite the fact that they repeat their "random" numbers over time. What's needed is a cheap, simple, RNG based on truly random physical phenomena.

Expensive versions of such devices are commercially available. But with the need for billions of RNGs for the Internet of Things, we need cheap, simple and open RNGs.

Which is what researchers Mattia Fabbri and Sergio Callegari of the University of Bologna are proposing in Very Low Cost Entropy Source Based on Chaotic Dynamics Retrofittable on Networked Devices to Prevent RNG Attacks. Think of it as the Raspberry Pi of RNGs - except cheaper.

The details are complex, but the simple explanation is that operation is based on a loop using an Analog to Digital Converter (ADC) hosted on a standard microcontroller. If a large random number is desired, successive random numbers can be accumulated to build one.

The authors have built and tested prototypes that cost less than $10 as opposed to the hundreds or thousands current RNGs cost. Volume could improve prices still further.

Cheap devices need cheap RNGs. The RNGs also need to be open so the security community can determine if they will perform as advertised.

As microcontrollers continue to improve it should be possible to build RNGs into many more devices. The advantage of Fabbri's and Callegari's device is that it should interface easily to the millions of current devices on today's Internet.

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Cheap randomness delivers real security

Everything you need to know about cryptography in 1 hour – Colin Percival – Video

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Everything you need to know about cryptography in 1 hour - Colin Percival
Everything you need to know about cryptography in 1 hour Cryptography is hard. It usually takes many years of study before it is possible to make any serious...

By: Polyglot Software Association

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Everything you need to know about cryptography in 1 hour - Colin Percival - Video