[Cryptography] NSA FOIA: Fifty Years of Mathematical Cryptanalysis

[Thierry Moreau]

On 04/10/19 08:54 PM, John Young wrote:
> NSA FOIA: Fifty Years of Mathematical Cryptanalysis, Unknown author,
> 1988. 100 pages.
> Formerly Top Secret Umbra Laconic Nocon Code Word
>

Thanks for this pointer.

The document reminds us about NSA mission and internal culture.

"[...] academic mathematicians slowly but surely discovering our secrets 
and publishing them openly. [...] Our lead is bound to diminish."

"[...] software cryptography can be replaced overnight which means that 
attacks must be developed under time and pressure, if at all; it may not 
even be cost effective to attack usages of software cryptography that 
change too frequently. On the other hand, it is more difficult than most 
people realize to devise secure cryptography and therefore we may expect 
frequent software changes at least occasionally to produce highly 
exploitable systems."

Regards

- T.