Papers on Crypto and the Future

[tcmay@netcom.com (Timothy C. May)]

(Note on Names of Threads: I've changed the name of this thread from
"questions" to something a bit more descriptive. I urge all of you to
try to pick thread names with some care, as the thread name is what
gets seen over and over again. I've been sorting some of the 80 MB of
mail on my optical disk and I'm chagrinned to see just how many
threads are titled "Re: your mail," "more questions," "mail," and even
"huh?" Not to mention the recent long debate about telscope optics
that was named something completely unrelated like "IRC prt 25
disabled?" or somesuch. Take the initiative! Pick meaningful titles!)

Agent Orange defoliated us with:

> I am currently getting together resources for a research paper on the
> growth of encryption systems, from enigma to present day. Part of the
> paper will examine the direction taken by encryption schemes in the
> future (with particular reference to the likely acceleration of
> computing power, greater need for personal privacy, etc etc)

Yeah, well there have been some excellent histories already written,
so you may want to save yourself some trouble and simply located them.
Is this paper for a class, or for whom?

I especially recommend Whit Diffie's review and history of crypto,
reprinted in the readily-avialable collection, "Contemporary
Cryptology," edited by Gus Simmons. Diffie was there, as they say, and
has some fascinationg perspectives. He's also talked extensively to
Don Coppersmith of IBM, about DES, and has some insights into the
compromises made. (Coppersmith acknowledges in the new Shamir-Biham
book on differential cryptanalysis that IBM knew of Diff Crypt. in the
early 70s when the S-boxes and key size were being finalized. He would
not tell S & B if IBM or himself knew of other attacks.)

There are also magazine-type reviews in "IEEE Spectrum" and
"Communications of the ACM," circa 1992-3. "Proceedings of the IEEE"
also has devoted at least one recent issue to crypto, including some
historical overviews. (I think this was circa 1990, give or take. I
can't remotely access "Current Contents" at melvyl@ucop.edu right now,
so this'll have to do.)

> The paper will be written from the viewpoint of an encryption-aware
> programmer, rather than that of an expert cryptanalyst! Plenty of
> example code and practical applications will form the backbone of this
> study, not pages of mathematics. 

What's wrong with pointing your readers at Schneier? This has become
the de facto standard, and the extensive review and scrutiny of his
code ensures more accuracy than most of us could get casusally.

As they say, "Use the Force...read the source."

> Are there any papers currently circulating dealing with the future of
> encryption? Has anyone else on this list already investigated this area,
> I'd appreciate any information you can submit (ftp addrs?), via this
> mailing list or private email if you wish.
> 
> Nick

Many such papers, though we on this very list (I say modestly) are
some of the best forward-thinkers to be found. Sci.crypt also has some
stuff, but I think not as good as our own predicitons and
speculations.

Of course, the best way to see the technical aspects of the future
(and a method I favor) is to scan the contents of the various "Crypto
Conferences," in the Springer-Verlag series on "Advances in
Cryptoology," "EuroCrypt," "AusCrypt," etc.

If anyone out there is unaware of these volumes, you owe it to
yourself to go to a nearby technical library and look them up. A few
hours spent reading about amazing new protocols will open your eyes.

--Tim May

-- 
..........................................................................
Timothy C. May         | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money,  
tcmay@netcom.com       | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero
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