EFA Media Release - Weak Crypto Exposed

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Media Release
Electronic Frontiers Australia Inc.

Media Release                                           19th July 1998

                EFA APPLAUDS EXPOSURE OF CRYPTO WEAKNESS

Electronic Frontiers Australia (EFA) today applauded the efforts of US
civil liberties group, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), in 
developing a machine which exposed the dishonesty of government 
claims about the security of "approved" cryptography systems.  

"EFF has demonstrated that 56-bit DES, the most commonly used cipher
in financial and banking transactions worldwide, is rapidly reaching 
its use-by date", said EFA spokesperson Greg Taylor.

"This makes a mockery of current US government policy, supported by 
the Australian government, which limits Australians to 40-bit keys
in commonly-used products such as Netscape and Microsoft Internet 
Explorer.  A 40-bit key is several orders of magnitude weaker than
the 56-bit key which has just been broken", said Mr. Taylor.

The breakthrough also exposes the security risks in constraints applied
to Australian crypto exporters, who are limited to 40-bit keys in their 
products unless they can meet strict conditions imposed by the Defence 
Department about the end-use of their products.

"There are those who will say that this research is irresponsible", 
said Taylor.  "However, cryptanalysis is a respected scientific 
discipline and those who expose weaknesses in commonly-used
ciphers do the world a great favour.  Without such research, the 
public and the business community will be deceived by those who
push the view that 40- or even 56-bit keys are adequate for 
everyday security."

"Cryptography is no longer a military secret.  It is a vital part of
today's online commerce.  It is time for the government to remove 
controls over cryptography so that the privacy and security of 
electronic communication can be guaranteed", said Mr. Taylor.

Electronic Frontiers Australia is an online privacy advocacy group 
concerned about the growing intrusion of government into people's 
personal lives.  EFA has mounted a campaign in Australia calling
for removal of the country's strict controls over the export
of cryptography products.

[ENDS]

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For further information:

   Greg Taylor - Brisbane   07 3370 6362   E-mail:  [email protected]
   Kim Heitman - Perth      08 9458 2790   E-mail:  [email protected]
   Danny Yee   - Sydney     02 9351 5159   E-mail:  [email protected]

Electronic Frontiers Australia Inc                  http://www.efa.org.au
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BACKGROUND

"EFF DES Cracker" machine brings honesty to crypto debate
EFF Press Release, 17 July.
http://www.eff.org/pub/Privacy/Crypto_misc/DESCracker/HTML/19980716_eff_descracker_pressrel.html

Information about the DES cracker project
http://www.eff.org/descracker

U.S. Data-Scrambling Code Cracked With Homemade Equipment
The New York Times, July 17
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/98/07/biztech/articles/17encrypt.html

Experts Crack Encryption Code
Washington Post/AP Wire Service, July 17
http://search.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WAPO/19980717/V000601-071798-idx.html

Cracking the code easier than believed
Financial Post, Canada, July 18
http://www.canoe.ca/FPTechnology/jul18_crackingth.html

Electronic Frontiers Australia Crypto Campaign
http://www.efa.org.au/Campaigns/crypt98.html
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