An interview with Sun Labs' Whit Diffie and Susan Landau on the subject of the new AES encryption standard. Whit is one of the industry's "encryption gurus" and recently received the Marconi award (with Martin Hellman) for developing Public Key encryption. . . .
An interview with Sun Labs' Whit Diffie and Susan Landau on the subject of the new AES encryption standard. Whit is one of the industry's "encryption gurus" and recently received the Marconi award (with Martin Hellman) for developing Public Key encryption. He is also often called to speak before Congress and the White House as an encryption expert.

"This fall the Department of Commerce announced its choice for the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES): the Rijndael algorithm (pronounced "Rhine doll" and named for its Belgium creators Vincent Rijmen and Joan Daemen). The first-of-its-kind international competition for the proposed new Federal Information Processing Standard included 15 entries by leading cryptographers from 12 countries. Sun Microsystems' Whitfield Diffie and Susan Landau, renowned authors and encryption experts, provide exclusive commentary on the AES, the political victory it represents, and why it heralds a new era in cryptography. They also discuss the government's new willingness to allow the export of strong encryption and the FBI's Internet surveillance program, Carnivore.

For privacy advocates, the AES is a promising turn in the history of Washington's encryption policy. Sun Microsystems' Whitfield Diffie and Susan Landau, veterans in the battle for strong private cryptography, predict the AES will be widely adopted by commerce as well as government agencies. The contrast between the old and new styles in government policy on encryption and surveillance was illustrated by the irony of the FBI's Internet Surveillance program being engulfed in cover-up on the eve of the AES selection."

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