2

According to the Wikipedia page for NSA (emphasis mine):

However, NSA's Fortezza hardware-based encryption cards, created for the Clipper project, are still used within government, and NSA ultimately published the design of the SKIPJACK cipher (but not the key exchange protocol) used on the cards.

However, the NIST publication describing SKIPJACK also describes a Key Exchange Algorithm (KEA).

My question is simple: Is the Wikipedia page wrong, or is it talking about something else?

Paŭlo Ebermann
  • 22,946
  • 7
  • 82
  • 119
Nemo
  • 1,377
  • 1
  • 14
  • 18

1 Answers1

2

Wikipedia is wrong in this case - just like the NIST publication describing SKIPJACK already implies by being titled "SKIPJACK and KEA Algorithm Specifications". In fact, on page 17 of that paper, you will find infos about KEA exchange for Email and on page 12, there's a summary of a full KEA exchange between devices A and B…

A summary of a full KEA exchange between devices A and B (page 12)

A summary of a full KEA exchange between devices A and B

A summary of an Email KEA exchange between devices A and B (page 17)

A summary of an Email KEA exchange between devices A and B

On a side-note: If you check the Wikipedia entry, it shows that Wikipedia entry has been edited meanwhile, just like @ilmari-karonen already mentioned in a comment.

Mike Edward Moras
  • 18,161
  • 12
  • 87
  • 240