From: pgut001@cs.auckland.ac.nz
Date: Thu, 22 Aug 1996 17:16:37 +0800
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: SSL: The early days
Message-ID: <84069694413671@cs26.cs.auckland.ac.nz>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


I've been trying to find information about the early days of SSL for a paper 
I'm writing, but I'm finding that someone's comment about the net having a 
collective memory of about 12 months seems to be true - there doesn't seem to 
be anything available going back more than a year or so.  In particular I'm 
interested in:
 
- Why/how/when did Netscape decide on SSL?
- How long did it take to design the first version?
- I've heard a rumour that when it was first presented at a conference, two 
  people independantly broke it before the speaker sat down.  Is this true, 
  and what conference was it?
 
The later work on SSL (an open design process, contributions from 
cryptographers and security experts, IETF standards-track work, etc etc) is 
well documented, but information on earlier work is hard to find.  Does anyone 
have any pointers to information I could work from?
 
Peter.