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From: Moderators <crypt-request@cs.auckland.ac.nz>
Newsgroups: sci.crypt.research,sci.answers,news.answers
Subject: sci.crypt.research FAQ
Followup-To: poster
Date: 7 Feb 1997 05:37:03 -0700
Organization: sci.crypt.research moderators
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Summary: Frequently asked questions in sci.crypt.research answered.
Keywords: encryption, cryptography, FAQ, sci.crypt.research, cryptology
Xref: senator-bedfellow.mit.edu sci.crypt.research:860 sci.answers:5869 news.answers:94125

Posting-Frequency: monthly
Archive-Name: cryptography-faq/research
Last-modified: 2 October 1996

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sci.crypt.research FAQ

1. "What is the charter of sci.crypt.research?"

The discussion of cryptography, cryptanalysis, and related issues in a
more civilized environment than sci.crypt.  In particular, we are more
interested in the technical aspects of serious cryptology.  This is a
moderated news group.  Before posting, you may want to consider if your
post would be more appropriate in talk.politics.crypto (discussions of
the relationship between cryptography and government), sci.crypt
(technical discussions of cryptography, unmoderated), alt.security.pgp
(discussion of Philip Zimmerman's Pretty Good Privacy program and related
tools, programs, and issues), alt.security.ripem (Mark Riordan's Privacy
Enhanced Mail program), alt.security (general computer security issues),
or some other group.


2. "How do I submit an article to sci.crypt.research?"

Most news posting software will recognize sci.crypt.research as a
moderated news group and redirect submissions to the submissions address.
As an alternative, you can send your article directly to
crypt-submission@cs.auckland.ac.nz for consideration.


3. "What do you think of my new cryptosystem?"

GUIDELINES FOR POSTING NEW ENCRYPTION SCHEMES TO SCI.CRYPT.RESEARCH

People frequently invent new encryption schemes and protocols and want to
share the fruit of their creativity with other people sharing an interest in
cryptography.  Past experience on sci.crypt indicates that many of these
postings tend to be just an annoyance, rather than serious research. In an
attempt to cut down on the annoyances, while still encouraging serious
research in this area, we have proposed the following guidelines for posting
new algorithms.


A.  DO research other encryption methods and understand how they work,
including both historical and current work.  There are lots of good books and
journals devoted to this kind of work.

B.  DO investigate methods of breaking encryption algorithms, or
cryptanalysis.  Knowing how a cryptanalyst might go about trying to break a
cipher gives you much better insight into how to create a good one.  Indeed,
among professionals, experience attempting to break encryption methods is
considered essential before designing new ciphers.

C.  DO COMPLETELY DOCUMENT your algorithm with both a text description and,
if applicable, computer source code.  By "completely document" we mean that
the description is sufficient for anyone skilled in the art to implement or
simulate your algorithm.  If you have doubts about export restrictions on the
source code for the algorithm, you may choose to provide a pointer to a place
where the source code can be obtained by qualified people, rather than
posting it.  If you have a complete application using encryption, and you are
posting from the USA or Canada, then providing a pointer to the program
rather than just posting it is recommended, but the text description should
still be posted.

D.  DO describe the advantages of your algorithm compared to others in
existence, including comparison of efficiency and other relevant design
parameters.  Make sure that you provide evidence to support your claims.

E.  DO try to break your own scheme before you post it.  This could save some
embarrassment.

F.  DO take a look at similar postings from other people on sci.crypt and
sci.crypt.research and try to analyze them.  This will give you some insight
into how others will look at your posting and perhaps allow you to make yours
more clear.  It also gives you a chance to try to break some other
cryptosystems.

G. DO read the sci.crypt FAQ, posted monthly and archived at rtfm.mit.edu
under /pub/usenet/sci.crypt.

H. DO describe which quantities in your scheme are public and which are
private.  Explicitly mention what the key is and what the message is.

I. DO include the design principles you used and mention any assumptions
you made which you think may be relevant.  Explain why you think your
system is secure.

J.  DON'T expect a response from a ciphertext only ("Try and break this")
challenge.  Although there are techniques for attacking ciphertext only, most
of them require lots of examples, some of which correspond to known plain
text.  They are also rather time consuming.  If you do feel the urge to issue
a challenge, you should make sure your posting complies with all of the above
guidelines.  Offering a cash reward if someone breaks your cryptosystem may
help someone to be more motivated to try (and is also a good test of how much
you believe in your own system).

K.  Be ready to carefully evaluate and learn from any feedback you get.


4.  "What effect do export regulations have on this group?"

Most postings to this group are international academic discussions
pertaining to cryptography and cryptanalysis that are protected as free
speech and free publication by the U. S. Constitution (in the USA), and
are not restricted from export.  Since the submissions address for this
group is in New Zealand, people outside of the USA need not worry about
these local regulations.  If you are in the USA and would like to
publicize a complete cryptosystem in software that might be considered a
munition, you should post it to an "export controlled" site, then post a
pointer to it on this newsgroup.  This advice also holds for Canada (and
certain other countries) with similar regulations.  Discussions of export
controls are considered "off topic" for this group, and are better posted
in talk.politics.crypto.

_________________

Comments, questions, or suggested additions to this FAQ should be
directed to the sci.crypt.research moderators at
crypt-request@cs.auckland.ac.nz


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