Re: Banks and Crypto - Again

[Andrew Loewenstern <andrew_loewenstern@il.us.swissbank.com>]

>  Critics say that the longer DES is used, the more likely its code
>  could be broken.  While realizing this could limit its life span
>  as a government certified standard, ABA warned that requiring banks
>  to convert to a new standard by 1998 (the year DES's certification
>  expires) could be prohibitively costly due to the high level of
>  electronic funds transfers secured by DES.  ABA therefore encouraged
>  the National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST) to
>  continue to endorse DES as a Federal Information Processing Standard
>  (FIPS) for use by the financial community.

"Breaking DES keys in a reasonable amount of time could be prohibitively  
costly for Banks due to the high level of electronic funds transfers secured  
by DES."

andrew