NCipher Takes Hardware Security To Network Level

[R. A. Hettinga]

--- begin forwarded text


Status:  U
Date: Mon, 06 Oct 2003 12:40:41 -0400
From: Somebody
To: "R. A. Hettinga" <rah at shipwright.com>
Subject: Re: NCipher Takes Hardware Security To Network Level

Don't identify me, since I'm not sure what parts of my NDA are still in 
force now that they've announced it.

It's really pretty clever.  All the expensive key-management is moved 
off to their centralized server.  As each low-cost HSM (the things that 
go into your server) comes up, it sends its "card identity" to the 
server.  The server responds with the necessary keys, sent in 3DES 
(maybe AES?  I forget details).  Their cards can now be fairly simple 
accelerators, and need less key protection, less NVRAM, etc.

--- end forwarded text


-- 
-----------------
R. A. Hettinga <mailto: rah at ibuc.com>
The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation <http://www.ibuc.com/>
44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA
"... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity,
[predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to
experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'

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