Role of Cryptographic
Evaluations in e-Japan Strategy
January 28, 2002
Hidetoshi Ono, Director, Office of IT Security
Policy, Ministry of Economy, Trade andIndustry
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CRYPTREC Advisory Committee(Chair: Hideki Imai, Professor, University of Tokyo)
In order to establish usage policies relating to cryptographic techniques inJapanese e-Government, Japanese cryptographers have been assembled toevaluate ciphers from specialized perspectives (IPA and TAO are the evaluation
offices) as a joint project of the Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry and theMinistry of Public Management, Home Affairs, Posts and Telecommunications(formerly the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications). The Cabinet
Secretariat, the National Police Agency, the Defense Agency, the Ministry ofJustice, the Ministry of Finance, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs have allcollaborated on this. The meeting of the Committee will be held by thecoordinating bureau heads of both ministries.
Subjects: Symmetric-key ciphers (block, stream), asymmetric-key
ciphers, hash, etc.
Evaluation criteria : Security, flexibility, efficiency, and other features related to
cryptographic algorithms
Call method: Call for candidates to provide broad, transparent acceptanceof proposals (also accepted from foreign countries)(in addition, other ciphers will also be evaluated)
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Activities of CRYPTREC Advisory Committee
1. Listing the ciphers recommended for e-government
A list of recommended ciphers relating to cryptographic algorithms used byelectronic application systems and other e-government systems will be created tocontribute to the development of highly secure and reliable systems. As part ofthis effort and as a continuation of last year’s activities, follow-up evaluations
and new evaluations will be conducted, and a study relating to cipher
requirements for e-government will be conducted by a working group (led byProfessor Sasaki of Tokyo Denki University).

2. Advice for ciphers to be used based on Electronic Signature Law(1) Impact of Electronic Signature Law, Article 2, Clause 3 on electronic
signature criteria (relating to cipher); and review(2) Research on evaluations of cryptographic techniques based on
Electronic Signature Law, Article 33

3. Support for international standardization related to cryptographictechniques
The committee will provide support for activities relating to the international
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standardization of ciphers in forums such as ISO and ITU.

Role in e-Japan Priority Policy Program(March 29, 2001, IT Strategic HQ)
6. Ensuring security and reliability of advanced information andtelecommunication networks(3) Specific measures
1. Establishment of system and platform for information securityc) Standardization of cryptographic techniques (Ministry of Public
Management, Home Affairs, Posts and Telecommunications andMinistry of Economy, Trade, and Industry)In order to adopt cryptographic techniques with superior performance
whose security has been objectively evaluated, by FY2002 we willevaluate and standardize cryptographic techniques that will be helpful in
e-government applications and the like. This will be accomplished byholding advisory committee meetings and the like involving experts, inconsideration of international standardization of cryptographic
techniques by organizations such as ISO and ITU.
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Action plan for ensuring e-government information security(October 10, 2001 Decisions made at information security
measures meeting)
2. Specific measures(2) Cipher standardization• In order to ensure security for “e-government”, to the extent possible
we will use criteria (specifically, ISO/IEC 15408) pertaining to
information equipment and the like designed to provide a specific levelof security for government procurement. In the same manner, it isessential to use and promote ciphers providing at least a specific level ofsecurity and reliability.
• To this end, the Ministry of Public Management, Home Affairs, Posts
and Telecommunications and Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry
will create a list of ciphers recommended for the Japanese eGovernment procurement in FY2002, taking into consideration datasuch as the results of a research committee run by these ministries.
Based on these findings, our goal is to reach an agreement among
ministries and agencies regarding cipher usage policy.
5E-government recommended ciphers

Ciphers targeted for evaluation(submitted ciphers and other ciphers requiring evaluation)
E-government cipher
candidates

E-government
recommended ciphers

Results at end ofcurrent FY

Create list during
next FY

Ciphers used based on
Electronic Signature Law
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Future plan
FY01 results

Study of cipher
requirements forthe e-government(categories andrequirements)
Cryptographicevaluations (egovernmentcipher candidates)
Evaluation ofcurrently used
ciphers

October 2002

March 2003

Creation of listwith matches
between egovernment cipher
requirements and egovernment cipher
candidates(categories:electronic signature,sending, storing,etc.)

Presentation of list of
e-government
recommended ciphers,application toprocurement,
agreement amongministries andagencies
Agreement on usage policy
Adjustment ofrelationships

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Overview of usage policy draft
Usage policy level…(omitted)…
In developing information systems in the future, in order to ensure high security
reliability, each ministry or agency shall use cryptographic techniques such as
those provided in the attachments to the extent possible.

Attachments
Cryptographic techniquesElectronic signature
Cipher A, Cipher B
Communication Cipher C, Cipher D, Cipher E
Storing
Cipher F, Cipher G
Other
Cipher H, Cipher I(Requirements)
Security, performance, etc.
Security, performance, etc.
Security, performance, etc.
Security, performance, etc.

Plus procurement guidebook(An explanatory guidebook for procurement personnel for use in actual applications.)
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