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Cryptographic Agility and Interoperability Proceedings of a Workshop (2017) / Chapter Skim
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Pages 7-18

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From page 7...
... CRYPTOGRAPHY: IF AND WHEN IT BREAKS Bob Blakley, CitiGroup, Inc. Bob Blakley, global head of information security innovation at CitiGroup, Inc., empha sized that cryptographic agility is a significant information security problem that needs to be tackled.
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From page 8...
... Blakley noted that the National Security Agency recently issued a document encouraging developers to plan for quantum-safe cryptographic systems.1 The National Institute of Standards and Technology also recently announced an effort to select and standardize quantum-safe cryptographic algorithms.2 Blakley said experts put the timeline for developing new cryptographic systems, including standardization and deployment, at roughly 10 years. However, the pace is clearly influenced by perceived urgency, which varies depending on how far off one thinks quantum computing is.
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From page 9...
... Blakley noted What is at Google's claim that a company called D-Wave has built a special purpose quantum computer, although it is unclear stake if current whether its speed comes from quantum mechanics or just extremely fast digital computing. cryptographic As a systems security expert, Blakley said he is less focused on the potential benefits of quantum comput systems are ing and more concerned about what it could break.
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From page 10...
... Blakley summarized the message of the Sherlock Holmes story "The Adventure of the Dancing Men": "What the mind of one man can invent, another can discover." Because people can conceive of quantum computing and other forms of code-breaking, he said, "I think it would pay for us to be worried about the discovery of something that would vitiate all of our public-key infrastructure and to start planning for that." He con cluded by expressing his hope that something to more readily allow changes in cryptog raphy infrastructure as circumstances warrant would be developed by the year 2020. Peter Swire, Georgia Institute of Technology, opened the discussion by asking Blakley to speculate on the probability of a significant break of widely deployed cryptog raphy.
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From page 11...
... Blakley noted that companies like IBM began working on the Y2K issue in the early 1980s, suggesting that much time and work were required to fix it. Paul Kocher, Cryptography Research Division, Rambus, Inc., brought up another ramification of quantum computing or the discovery of another significant weakness: its potential ability to retroactively cause cryptographic breaks and decrypt any encrypted material that has been saved.
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From page 12...
... How quickly could a replacement be prepared? Could the new solution support the current cryptographic algorithms (known as "backward compatibility")
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From page 13...
... The SSLv3 cipher suite approach is designed to address compatibility. Each cipher suite specifies a permitted configuration, typically including an encryption algorithm (and its mode of operation)
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From page 14...
... Agility mechanisms introduce com plexity, which leads to unknown consequences; Kocher expressed skepticism of any proof of security that fails to take into account the way a product or algorithm is deployed and behaves in the field. Key Lessons from the Secure Sockets Layer Experience Kocher outlined some lessons learned through this arduous process.
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From page 15...
... A cleaner certificate format could have avoided implementation mistakes but would have made SSLv3 adoption more difficult since X.509 was already in widespread use. Piracy in Pay Television Kocher described his work on a project to prevent piracy in pay television, starting with a brief history of the evolution of pay television technology.
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From page 16...
... Because of issues like this, Kocher and his team focused heavily on preventive methods instead of relying solely on agility methods. He called the preventive approach a technological success, though it made existing vendors unhappy because they had made a profit from replacement cards.
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From page 17...
... When discs with a new security method were released, it typically took time for attackers to discover and exploit it, but they eventually did. Hollywood, Kocher said, viewed this as beneficial nonetheless because its business model favors the brand-new movie over the months-old one.
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From page 18...
... That said, Kocher emphasized that where strong and simple is possible, it should be pursued. While the Blu-ray solution may seem somewhat complicated, he noted that the code required thousands, but not tens of thousands, of lines of code, making it relatively strong and simple.
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Key Terms

  • quantum computer
  • cipher suites
  • quantum computing
  • cyber resilience
  • current cryptographic

  • cryptographic algorithms
  • kocher described
  • pay television
  • quantum computers
  • paul kocher

  • cipher suite
  • key sizes
  • agility mechanisms
  • information security
  • kocher emphasized

  • cryptography research
  • certificate authorities
  • secure sockets
  • bob blakley
  • replacement cards

  • widely deployed
  • blakley noted
  • personal computer
  • public keys
  • export restrictions

  • offer quantum
  • cause cryptographic
  • quantum resistance
  • effective cryptographic
  • cryptographic breaks


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