Mathematician warns US spies may be weakening next-gen encryption
www.newscientist.com
Quantum computers may soon be able to crack encryption methods in use today, so plans are already under way to replace them with new, secure algorithms. Now it seems the US National Security Agency may be undermining that process

Mathematician warns NSA may be weakening next-gen encryption::Quantum computers may soon be able to crack encryption methods in use today, so plans are already under way to replace them with new, secure algorithms. Now it seems the US National Security Agency may be undermining that process

  • waitmarks@lemmy.worldEnglish
    35·
    1 year ago

    From what it sounds like, he’s not saying the algorithm is compromised itself, but rather that NIST is recommending a weaker version of it as sufficiently safe at (possibly) the request of the NSA. If that is the case we would know for sure pretty quickly once DISA updates their STIGs for internal use to include quantum resistant encryption. If the STIGs say to use a stronger version than NIST recommends then he was right.

    • thesmokingmanEnglish
      1·
      1 year ago

      NIST has a history of weak recommendations. Skipjack, DES, and SIKE are the three I point to a lot. The government explicitly used weak versions in internal systems even though the international consensus was against it. I wouldn’t necessarily trust anything the US government puts out unless there is that level of international trust behind it.