Re: Faster way to deescrow Clipper

[koontzd@lrcs.loral.com (David Koontz )]

>From: "Perry E. Metzger" <perry@imsi.com>
>
>Mike Ingle says:
>
>An interesting idea.
>
>> The LEAF would look good unless you tried to decrypt the
>> session key. The wrong-IV problem would remain. The NSA should have
>> designed the Clipper so that, if the IV was wrong, the chips would not
>> accept the LEAF.
>
>That can't be done, I'm afraid. Its way to difficult to distinguish a
>bad IV from line noise nuking the first block of your CBC
>conversation.

I used to work on NSA cryptographic equipment.  One of characteristic of
a system designed to use crypto is the ability to detect crypto sync.

If you have access to the control program (which you would if faking
LEAFS), you would tend to throw out the first block.  The difficulty is
that the DE (distant end) ain't necessarily smart enough to do so (assuming
it has not been modified), and is more than likely looking for a passed data
value (typically a sync symbol) to determine the state of crypto
synchronization.  Were the system consuming data from the enciphered link
properly prepped, it is possible that it would ignore garbage (Assuming the
damaged decrypted first block did not contain the sync), while awaiting
a synchronization indicator.

Most duplex crypto systems use some variant of End Around Prep (EAP),
where the receive data path is used to determine whether crypto synch is
acheived by looking for a constant mark or space, or idle character.  When
the receiver does not provide the proper value the transmit side is knocked
down, the DE receive notices and restarts its transmit.  A data value is
passed through the loop to tell the system to go to operate mode.   Such
functions are generally predicated on having crypto  - and the data system for
which it provides a link, separate.

The point being that a communications system that you can't modify
both ends of may not be able to accept a garbled first block.  Not to mention
that OFB is probably a lot more prevalent for voice applications.