Re: Frame Formats

[julian_satran@il.ibm.com]

Thanks Glen - the online copy is at:

http://www.haifa.il.ibm.com/satran/ips


Julo

Glen Turner <glen.turner@aarnet.edu.au> on 30/03/2001 06:35:14

Please respond to Glen Turner <glen.turner@aarnet.edu.au>

To:   Julian Satran/Haifa/IBM@IBMIL
cc:
Subject:  Re: Frame Formats




julian_satran@il.ibm.com wrote:
>
> I have no idea. I guess that they think random is easy. Julo

Hi Julo,

Ignore the "security people".  I've worked on three crypto
products and good crypto people know that random numbers
are hard.

Furthermore, poor pseudo-random numbers by definition leak
machiine state.  This gives you something to hang your
hat on when seeking to defeat the crypto.

Zero-fill any unused bytes.  Don't leak further machine
state by leaving them at pre-existing values.

If a cryptographer needs a more random stream then they'll
insert their own random header (as this is under the crypto
device's control whereas a user-inserted header isn't) and
compress the user data.

Regards,
Glen

PS: Where is the online copy of the frame formats presented
at the meeting?

--
 Glen Turner                                 Network Engineer
 (08) 8303 3936      Australian Academic and Research Network
 glen.turner@aarnet.edu.au          http://www.aarnet.edu.au/
--
 The revolution will not be televised, it will be digitised