Lotus Notes 24-bit sellout

[Jerry Whiting <jwhiting@igc.apc.org>]

When Ray Ozzie announced the work reduction sellout at the RSA conference, 
both he and Ms Denning (whom I spoke with about it later) mentioned that 
there was something else in Lotus Notes 4 besides the 40+24 bit compromise.

My thought is that the NSA gave them something else in exchange for the 
mandatory escrow scheme they're all talking about publicly.  Perhaps some 
other crypto code the NSA had lying around unused.

So looking for a common 24-bit subkey may reduce Notes' key to a 40-bit 
brute force exercise but the 40+24 is probably not ALL that's in Notes 4.

Definitely a deal with the Devil.  Given that we're talking about IBM, not 
Lotus none of this surprises me given IBM's Lucifer/DES history with spook 
input years ago.  Then again to be fair, I don't know if the 40+24 deal 
was cooked up before or after the IBM/Lotus merger.


Jerry Whiting
Azalea Software, Inc.

P.S.  Yes, I'm the one doing carrick "Encryption software so good, the Feds 
won't let us export it."  In fact, we schedule for a visit from the NSA 
next month regarding our desire to export carrick to Australia.  The mere 
mention of a Blowfish-based crypto product left my assigned spook momentarly 
speechless.  Something tells me they ain't gonna let carrick out of the 
country with a key length worth using.  AND I DEFINITELY AIN'T INTERSTED 
IN MAKING A DEAL WITH THE DEVIL.