Crypto hardware

[John Lowry]

The unit is called the SafeKeyper from BBN. It is based on 
a unit designed for type-1 cryptography and met
the various government standards required.  That 
unit was, I believe, the first cryptographic peripheral device
accepted by the government and led to the acceptance of other 
peripheral cryptographic devices like Fortezza, SmartCards, etc.

We in the biz never use the term "tamperproof"  ;-)
Besides being impossible, it is often viewed as a challenge.
Highly tamper resistant and tamper evident is the claim.
For example, we speculate that if you took a
SafeKeyper and froze it in liquid nitrogen, then
you might be able to disassemble it and neutralize
the tamper circuitry.  This would allow you to extract
the keying material and perhaps re-assemble the unit.
We believe that the tampering would be evident due to
tamper resistant seals on the opening of the unit although
cleverness would probably defeat those too.  Of course, if
freezing damaged the circuitry then that would be tamper
evidence too ...  It would be a fun experiment.

We can take this offline if you wish.  I'm not certain
it is of general interest.

BTW: you can still buy these and an improved model
is in the works. 


John Lowry

-----
John Lowry
Division Engineer
BBN/Verizon
617-873-2435
jlowry at bbn.com
jlowry.pager at bbn.com 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-cryptography at wasabisystems.com
> [mailto:owner-cryptography at wasabisystems.com]On Behalf Of Kent Crispin
> Sent: Tuesday, July 10, 2001 5:28 PM
> To: cryptography at wasabisystems.com
> Subject: Crypto hardware
> 
> 
> A couple of years ago at the RSA conference one of the vendors was 
> exhibiting a tamperproof that would keep a secret key and perform 
> encryptions/signatures using the key.  Since the key never left the 
> box, in theory security reduced to physical security around the box.  
> The intended use of the box was as a master for a CA.  I thought the 
> vendor was GTE, but I didn't find anything definitive on their site.
> 
> Does this description trigger any recollection?  Are there similar 
> devices on the market from other sources?
> 
> -- 
> Kent Crispin                               "Be good, and you will be
> kent at songbird.com                           lonesome." -- Mark Twain
> 
> 
> 
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