56-bit encryption

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In computing, 56-bit encryption refers to a

brute force attack
.

Description

The US government traditionally regulated encryption for reasons of national security, law enforcement and foreign policy. Encryption was regulated from 1976 by the

Department of Commerce
in 1996.

56-bit refers to the size of a symmetric key used to encrypt data, with the number of unique possible permutations being (72,057,594,037,927,936). 56-bit encryption has its roots in

NSA to brute-force this encryption. Furthermore, from 1996 software products exported from the United States were not permitted to use stronger than 56-bit encryption, requiring different software editions for the US and export markets.[2]
In 1999, US allowed 56-bit encryption to be exported without key escrow or any other key recovery requirements.

The advent of

RSA Data Security ran a brute force competition with a $10,000 prize to demonstrate the weakness of 56-bit encryption; the contest was won four months later.[3] In July 1998, a successful brute-force attack was demonstrated against 56-bit encryption with Deep Crack in just 56 hours.[4]

In 2000, all restrictions on key length were lifted, except for exports to embargoed countries.[5]

56-bit DES encryption is now obsolete, having been replaced as a standard in 2002 by the 128-bit (and stronger) Advanced Encryption Standard. DES continues to be used as a symmetric cipher in combination with Kerberos because older products do not support newer ciphers like AES.[6]

See also

References

  1. ^ Radosevich, Lynda (June 30, 1997). "Hackers Prove 56-bit DES is not Enough". InfoWorld: 77.
  2. ^ "Microsoft Strong Encryption Downloads". Microsoft. 2011. Retrieved 8 September 2011.
  3. ^ Michael Kanellos (18 June 1997). "Group Cracks 56-bit Encryption". CNET. Retrieved 19 January 2012.
  4. ISBN 9780160680830
    .
  5. The Library of Congress. RL30273. Archived
    (PDF) from the original on 7 March 2022.
  6. ^ "Microsoft security advisory: Update to harden use of DES encryption: July 14, 2015".
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