From: cme@ellisun.sw.stratus.com (Carl Ellison)
Newsgroups: sci.crypt
Subject: RSA's FAQ
Date: 15 Sep 92 14:32:57 GMT
Organization: Stratus Computer, Software Engineering

------- Forwarded Message

From:       burt@RSA.COM (Burt Kaliski)
To:         rsaref-users@RSA.COM
Date:       Fri, 11 Sep 92 17:04:53 PDT
Subject:    New FAQ on cryptography

                 -----------------------------------------
                 RSA Laboratories announces publication of
                 -----------------------------------------

                                Answers To 
                        FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
                        About Today's Cryptography

                               by Paul Fahn
                             RSA Laboratories


This new document discusses in detail many aspects of current cryptography,
whether theoretical, practical, legal or commercial. It is a broad guide to
the state of cryptography today, and includes both introductory and advanced
topics. Although not a technical document, this FAQ gives extensive 
bibliographic references to the technical literature for all major areas
of cryptography. The FAQ will be continually edited to reflect new
developments; it is thus an important guide for those who wish to be kept
up to date on the latest legal and political controversies as well as the
latest achievements in factoring.

`Frequently Asked Questions' is available via anonymous ftp from rsa.com,
in the pub/faq directory. It is available in both postscript and LaTeX
formats. Those without ftp capability can obtain a hard copy by sending
$20 (to cover expenses) to RSA Laboratories, 10 Twin Dolphin Drive,
Redwood City, CA  94065.

Any questions or comments may be sent to faq-editor@rsa.com.

Feel free to repost this announcement.

Here is a list of questions answered.
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------
General
What is encryption?
What is authentication?
What is public-key cryptography? 
What are the advantages and disadvantages of public-key cryptography over
  secret-key cryptography?
Is cryptography patentable in the U.S.?
Is cryptography exportable from the U.S.?

RSA
What is RSA?
Why use RSA rather than DES?
Are there hardware implementations of RSA?
How fast is RSA?
How much extra message length is caused by using RSA?
What would it take to break RSA?
Are strong primes necessary in RSA?
How large a modulus should be used in RSA?
How large should the primes be?
How does one find random numbers for keys?
What if users of RSA run out of distinct primes?
How do you know if a number is prime?
How is RSA used for encryption in practice?
How is RSA used for authentication in practice?
Does RSA help detect transmission errors?
Does RSA help protect against computer viruses?
What are alternatives to RSA?
Is RSA currently in use today?
Is RSA an official standard today?
Is RSA a de facto standard today?
What will happen to RSA if NIST adopts another method to be the official
    standard?
Is RSA patented? 
Can RSA be exported from the U.S.?

Key Management
What key management issues are involved in public-key cryptography?
Who needs a key?
How does one get an RSA key pair? 
Should a public key or private key be shared among users?
What are certificates? 
How are certificates used?
Who issues certificates and how?
What is a CSU, or, How do certifying authorities store their private keys?
Are certifying authorities susceptible to attack?
What if the certifying authority's key is lost or compromised? 
For how long is a key pair valid?
What happens if I lose my private key?
What happens if my private key is compromised?
What are Certificate Revocation Lists (CRLs)?
How should I store my private key?
How does one find someone else's public key?
How can signatures remain valid beyond the expiration dates of their
keys, or, How do you verify a 20-year old signature?
What is a digital timestamping service?
What other digital services will accompany widespread use of RSA?

Factoring and Discrete Log
What is a one-way function?
What is the significance of one-way functions for cryptography?
What is the factoring problem?
What is the significance of factoring in cryptography?
Has factoring been getting easier?
What are the best factoring methods in use today?
What are the prospects for theoretical factoring breakthroughs?
What is the RSA Factoring Challenge?
What is the discrete log problem?
Which is easier, factoring or discrete log?

DES
What is DES?
Has DES been broken?
How does one use DES securely?
Can DES be exported from the U.S.?
What are the alternatives to DES?
Is DES a group?

Miscellaneous
What is the legal status of documents signed with digital signatures?
What is a hash function? What is a message digest?
What are MD2, MD4 and MD5?
What is SHS?
What are RC2 and RC4?
What is PEM?
What is PKCS?
What is RSAREF?

DSS
What is DSS?
Is DSS secure?
Is use of DSS covered by any patents?
What is the current status of DSS?

NIST
What is NIST?
What role does NIST play in cryptography?
What are NIST's plans for the future of cryptography?

NSA
What is the NSA?
What role does NSA play in commercial cryptography?

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