From: wcs@anchor.ho.att.com
Date: Thu, 22 Apr 93 15:37:31 PDT
To: extropians@gnu.ai.mit.edu
Subject: Re: Info on Mykotronx
Message-ID: <9304222236.AA15100@anchor.ho.att.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text


Harry Shapiro said he wasn't able to find much information on Mykotronx.

The San Francisco Chronicle says it's a "little-known company in Torrance, CA";
"Mykotronx Inc., founded in 1979 by two former engineers from TRW Inc.,
already sells classified encryption chips to protect satellite communications."
"San Jose-based VLSI Research Inc. will manufacture the chip, called the Clipper.
VLSI was chosen largely because it has a unique manufacturing process that
makes it nearly impossible to take the chip apart and decode it."

The Washington Times says that "Government engineers at NSA and [...] NIST
designed and developed the chip, which was then produced by privately owned
Mykotronx and a publicly traded subcontractor, VLSI Technology."
In their discussion of comments by Ted Bettwy, exec VP of Mykotronx,
	"He said the chip announced yesterday, internally referred to 
	as MYK-78, costs about $40 and uses an algorithm 16 million times 
	more complex than that used by chips now on the market. 
	Computer hackers have penetrated the current chips."


			Bill Stewart