From: tcmay@netcom.com (Timothy C. May)
Date: Wed, 28 Apr 93 10:49:17 PDT
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: (fwd) Capstone & Preliminary Message Security Protocol
Message-ID: <9304281749.AA28920@netcom3.netcom.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


Cypherfolks,

Some info on Capstone and another program called "Tessera."

-Tim


From: mrr@scss3.cl.msu.edu (Mark Riordan)
Newsgroups: sci.crypt
Subject: Capstone & Preliminary Message Security Protocol
Date: 28 Apr 1993 01:35:50 GMT
Organization: Michigan State University
Summary: Defense Message System to use Capstone chip
Keywords: Clipper, Capstone, PMSP, Mykotronx, NSA


An article in the 26 April 93 issue of Network World mentions
encryption technology to be used in a proposed Department of Defence
email network:

Next year, the DOD will issue an RFP for a one million-user Defense
Message System (DMS).

DMS will not be completely compatible with X.400 messaging.
Therefore, to make it easier for vendors to bid on what will be a
non-standard email system, the DOS plan to release prototype source
code for its version of X.400.

The article contains the interesting sentence:

"Along with source code, it will release the nonclassified encryption
algorithm application called Preliminary Message Security Protocol
(PMSP)."

DMS places security features in the Mail User Agent, rather than
the Message Transfer Agent, as is done with stock X.400.  Furthermore,
PMSP will use the NSA's Capstone public key algorithm, rather than
RSA, which is used in X.400.  Therefore, gateways will be required
to translate between encryption systems when DMS is exchanging
messages with other networks.

As its data encryption algorithm, Capstone uses the same unpublished 
private-key algorithm as the Clipper chip.  [In a Usenet posting, 
Dorothy Denning says that Capstone uses the Skipjack algorithm, 
the Digital Signature Standard (DSS), and the Secure Hash Algorithm (SHA).]  
Capstone chips will be provided by Mykotronx, Inc., the Torrance, Calif 
firm that also designed Clipper.

Military DMS users will be issued PCMCIA-compliant cryptocards
containing the Capstone chip.  (PCMCIA is an add-on interface card
standard oriented toward subnotebook PC compatibles.)  This interface
card is dubbed "Tessera".

Mykotronx claims to have already shipped 10,000 Capstone and 20,000
Clipper chipsets.


Does anyone know anything else about PMSP?

Mark R.  mrr@ripem.msu.edu

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