Last-modified: 94/06/07

This is the ninth of ten parts of the sci.crypt FAQ. The parts are

mostly independent, but you should read the first part before the rest.

We don't have the time to send out missing parts by mail, so don't ask.

Notes such as ``[KAH67]'' refer to the reference list in the last part.

The sections of this FAQ are available via anonymous FTP to rtfm.mit.edu

as /pub/usenet/news.answers/cryptography-faq/part[xx]. The Cryptography

FAQ is posted to the newsgroups sci.crypt, talk.politics.crypto,

sci.answers, and news.answers every 21 days.

Contents:

9.1. What is the National Security Agency (NSA)?

9.2. What are the US export regulations?

9.3. What is TEMPEST?

9.4. What are the Beale Ciphers, and are they a hoax?

9.5. What is the American Cryptogram Association, and how do I get in touch?

9.6. Is RSA patented?

9.7. What about the Voynich manuscript?

9.1. What is the National Security Agency (NSA)?

The NSA is the official communications security body of the U.S.

government. It was given its charter by President Truman in the early

50's, and has continued research in cryptology till the present. The

NSA is known to be the largest employer of mathematicians in the world,

and is also the largest purchaser of computer hardware in the

world. Governments in general have always been prime employers of

cryptologists. The NSA probably possesses cryptographic expertise many

years ahead of the public state of the art, and can undoubtedly break

many of the systems used in practice; but for reasons of national

security almost all information about the NSA is classified.

Bamford's book [BAMFD] gives a history of the people and operations of

the NSA. The following quote from Massey [MAS88] highlights the

difference between public and private research in cryptography:

``... if one regards cryptology as the prerogative of government,

one accepts that most cryptologic research will be conducted

behind closed doors. Without doubt, the number of workers engaged

today in such secret research in cryptology far exceeds that of

those engaged in open research in cryptology. For only about 10

years has there in fact been widespread open research in

cryptology. There have been, and will continue to be, conflicts

between these two research communities. Open research is common

quest for knowledge that depends for its vitality on the open

exchange of ideas via conference presentations and publications in

scholarly journals. But can a government agency, charged with

responsibilities of breaking the ciphers of other nations,

countenance the publication of a cipher that it cannot break? Can

a researcher in good conscience publish such a cipher that might

undermine the effectiveness of his own government's code-breakers?

One might argue that publication of a provably-secure cipher would

force all governments to behave like Stimson's `gentlemen', but one

must be aware that open research in cryptography is fraught with

political and ethical considerations of a severity than in most

scientific fields. The wonder is not that some conflicts have

occurred between government agencies and open researchers in

cryptology, but rather that these conflicts (at least those of which

we are aware) have been so few and so mild.''

9.2. What are the US export regulations?

In a nutshell, there are two government agencies which control

export of encryption software. One is the Bureau of Export

Administration (BXA) in the Department of Commerce, authorized by

the Export Administration Regulations (EAR). Another is the Office

of Defense Trade Controls (DTC) in the State Department, authorized

by the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR). As a rule

of thumb, BXA (which works with COCOM) has less stringent

requirements, but DTC (which takes orders from NSA) wants to see

everything first and can refuse to transfer jurisdiction to BXA.

The newsgroup misc.legal.computing carries many interesting

discussions on the laws surrounding cryptographic export, what

people think about those laws, and many other complex issues which

go beyond the scope of technical groups like sci.crypt. Make sure to

consult your lawyer before doing anything which will get you thrown in

jail; if you are lucky, your lawyer might know a lawyer who has at

least heard of the ITAR.

9.3. What is TEMPEST?

TEMPEST is a standard for electromagnetic shielding for computer

equipment. It was created in response to the discovery that

information can be read from computer radiation (e.g., from a CRT) at

quite a distance and with little effort.

Needless to say, encryption doesn't do much good if the cleartext

is available this way.

9.4. What are the Beale Ciphers, and are they a hoax?

(Thanks to Jim Gillogly for this information and John King for

corrections.)

The story in a pamphlet by J. B. Ward (1885) goes: Thomas

Jefferson Beale and a party of adventurers accumulated a huge mass

of treasure and buried it in Bedford County, Virginia, leaving

three ciphers with an innkeeper; the ciphers describe the

location, contents, and intended beneficiaries of the treasure.

Ward gives a decryption of the second cipher (contents) called B2;

it was encrypted as a book cipher using the initial letters of the

Declaration of Independence (DOI) as key. B1 and B3 are unsolved;

many documents have been tried as the key to B1.

Aficionados can join a group that attempts to solve B1 by various

means with an eye toward splitting the treasure:

The Beale Cypher Association

P.O. Box 975

Beaver Falls, PA 15010

You can get the ciphers from the rec.puzzles FAQL by including the

line:

send index

in a message to netlib@peregrine.com and following the directions.

(There are apparently several different versions of the cipher

floating around. The correct version is based on the 1885 pamphlet,

says John King <kingj@hpcc01.corp.hp.com>.)

Some believe the story is a hoax. Kruh [KRU88] gives a long list of

problems with the story. Gillogly [GIL80] decrypted B1 with the DOI

and found some unexpected strings, including ABFDEFGHIIJKLMMNOHPP.

Hammer (president of the Beale Cypher Association) agrees that this

string couldn't appear by chance, but feels there must be an

explanation; Gwyn (sci.crypt expert) is unimpressed with this

string.

9.5. What is the American Cryptogram Association, and how do I get in touch?

The ACA is an organization devoted to cryptography, with an emphasis

on cryptanalysis of systems that can be attacked either with

pencil-and-paper or computers. Its organ ``The Cryptogram'' includes

articles and challenge ciphers. Among the more than 50 cipher types in

English and other languages are simple substitution, Playfair,

Vigenere, bifid, Bazeries, grille, homophonic, and cryptarithm.

Dues are $20 per year (6 issues) for new members, $15 thereafter; more

outside North America; less for students under 18 and seniors. Send

checks to ACA Treasurer, P.O. Box 198, Vernon Hills, IL 60061-0198.

9.6. Is RSA patented?

Yes. The patent number is 4,405,829, filed 12/14/77, granted 9/20/83.

For further discussion of this patent, whether it should have been

granted, algorithm patents in general, and related legal and moral

issues, see comp.patents and misc.legal.computing. For information

about the League for Programming Freedom see [FTPPF]. Note that one of

the original purposes of comp.patents was to collect questions such as

``should RSA be patented?'', which often flooded sci.crypt and other

technical newsgroups, into a more appropriate forum.

9.7. What about the Voynich manuscript?

The Voynich manuscript is an elaborately lettered and illustrated

document, in a script never deciphered. It has been handed down for

centuries by a line of art collectors and has uncertain origination.

Much speculation and attention has been focused on its potential

meaning.

nelson@reed.edu (Nelson Minar) says there is a mailing list on the

subject. The address to write to subscribe to the VMS mailing list

is: <voynich-request@rand.org>

the ftp archive is: rand.org:/pub/voynich

There's all sorts of information about the manuscript itself, of

course. A good bibliography can be found on the ftp site. [KAH67]

gives a good introduction.