Re: Idle question...

[Ian Farquhar <ifarqhar@laurel.ocs.mq.edu.au>]

>>>BTW, the algorithm leaked, it was not reverse engineered.  I do not expect
>>>SKIPJACK to leak, as it's distribution would be VERY limited, even within
>>>the NSA and chip houses.  Even A5 was reputed to be known to only 2 or 3
>>>people within Motorola.

>>How many have access to the masks?

An interesting question.  Presumably the companies are obliged to use
internal security procedures on the masks.  Let's face it: Motorola
manufactures a lot of other chips which contain sensitive implementation
details anyway, so they should be able to insure that the masks stay
relatively private.

You might also like to consider this.  I would expect an average chip
which implements the GSM protocols to contain 100K-500K transistors,
probably as a CMOS gate array with some standard cells.  The A5 cipher could
conservatively implemented in about 500 transistors.  Assuming that
Motorola maintains reasonable control and security over the masks on the
fab line, it is going to be extremely difficult for anyone to recover
the cipher's algorithm.  Besides, have you ever tried to figure out an
algorithm from a gate array?!  Insanity lies down that path. :)

A much more viable technique would be to decap it and use electron
microscopy to recover the algorithm.  Obviously this possibility
was factored into the design of A5.

Matt Blaze wrote:
>According
>to NSA, "part of the algorithm", probably including the configuration
>tables for the S-boxes, is burned in to the chips in the secure
>vault during the classified escrow programming session.  See my
>February comp.risks post, "Notes on Key Escrow Meeting with NSA",
>for more details.  (I think it's available somewhere in the
>ftp.eff.org archive.)

The technology used to implement this is ViaLink (Ref: Computer Design,
Jan 93, pp. 28-30).  It's an antifuse (ie. OC till blown) technology,
which buries an amorphous silicon fuse between two layers of metal.
The cell which forms part of this fuse is known as a VROM cell.
A blown VROM cell is inspectionally identical to an unblown cell (it
is conjectured.)  It is not visually inspectable certainly, and the
blown fuse has the same X-ray diffractive index as an unblown cell.
There are reportedly also procedures used to defeat EM analysis of the
running chip.

The s-boxes would certainly be implemented in VROM cells, and it is
also quite conceivable that these fuse cells are also used as crossbar
connects across busses (thus even hiding the information flow from
module to module).  One suggestion has even been that the implementations
may include unused modules to confuse any inspection, which would be an
amusing diversion.

Anyway, as Matt said, the chip is programmed in the SCIF, during which
time the two keys and unit serial number are also established (in VROM).

Originally this technology was claimed to require a $40 million/6 year
reverse engineering effort.  Recently that seems to have fallen to
$1 million/1 year.  Matt's followup to the post he refers to 
does cast some doubt over the technique's ability to resist destructive 
reverse engineering (in which the chip is not expected to survive).
It is certainly conceivable, for example, that if an attacker was to expose 
the lower-layer conductors, physical connections into and out of the VROM 
cells could determine their state and reconstruct the algorithm.

BTW, this is my current list of known facts and rumors about SKIPJACK
(_not_ Clipper, just the algorithm).  Has anyone got anything to add?

* 64 bit "electronic codebook" block cipher, 80 bit key. (Disclosed)
* Can use all four FIPS-81 modes of operation. (Disclosed)
* 32 rounds.  All rounds non-linear. (Disclosed)
* Not suceptible to differential cryptanalysis. (Claimed in the Interim report)
* Classified "Secret". (Disclosed)
* Part of a NSA suite of "Type 1" algorithms.  Such algorithms are suitable
  "for protecting all levels of classied data."  SKIPJACK, however, is only
  certified for unclassified/sensitive data. (Disclosed)
* Design commenced in 1987, based on algorithms circa 1980 or so. (Disclosed)
* No correlation observable between the output and input/key bits. (Claimed)
* No known weak keys found. (Claimed in interim report)
* SKIPJACK does not feature DES's complementation property. (Interim report)
* SKIPJACK incorporates design features found in algorithms which are
  used to protect classified information. (Interim Report)
* Contains 16 S-boxes (rumor attributed to Dorothy Denning.  Unverified.)

Anyone got anything else to add?

							Ian.