From: Adam Shostack <adam@bwh.harvard.edu>
Date: Wed, 7 Dec 94 15:02:54 PST
To: Tony.Gurnick@nzdairy.co.nz (DNA)
Subject: Re: Breaking the NSA
In-Reply-To: <94120811311055@nzdairy.co.nz>
Message-ID: <199412072305.SAA02362@hermes.bwh.harvard.edu>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain



	The NSA will not tell anyone if they can break RSA or IDEA.
Read the Codebreakers; they went through all sorts of contortions to
not let the Japanese know we had broken Purple.

	They may send the IRS, EPA, and other agencies after you to
harrass you, but they wouldn't tell you just because you sent code out
of the country.

	Alternately, they'll bug your computer, and claim thats how
they broke things.

Adam


| If you really want to test NSA.  Encrypt some crypto code
| with pgp in an overseas public key(IE: non-us) then email the
| code to someone out of the us.  This way you will find out 1 of 2
| things.

|        3. PGP is breakable by the NSA but they dont tell anyone! (HMMM)
| 
| 	  - Well this would be an interesting one!
| 
| 	  - Since they are the ones that imposed the ITAR rule in the
|             first place (them or the us gov) they have a prob!  If
|             they knew you were exporting crypto because they cracked
|             pgp they could not convict you as that would imply they cracked
|             pgp and they would tell the whole world what they can &
|             cannot crack.  It would be a big bummer for RSA and IDEA
| 	    but at least we`d know!