NEWS: RSA publishes RC2 description

All,

> I thought this might be of interest.  You can find the I-D @
ftp://ftp.ietf.org/internet-drafts/draft-rivest-rc2desc-00.txt.  

> Tim

Tim Matthews
Product Manager
RSA Data Security, Inc.
p. 415/595-8782
f.  415/595-1873
e. tim(_at_)rsa(_dot_)com

> ==============
>
>
> RSA Data Security Publishes RC2(R) Specification in IETF Forum 
>
> 08:17 a.m. Jun 27, 1997 Eastern 
>
>
> REDWOOD CITY, Calif., June 27 /PRNewswire/ -- In a move to promote broad
> acceptance of a single standard for electronic messaging, RSA Data
> Security, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Security Dynamics
> Technologies, Inc. (Nasdaq: SDTI), today announced that it has published
> a description of its RC2(R) encryption algorithm for evaluation by the
> Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF).  The published description of RC2
> allows developers working in the IETF to scrutinize the algorithm as part
> of the process to establish S/MIME(TM) as a standard for electronic
> messaging.  The RC2 algorithm is a critical component of this standard
> because it provides for message privacy and interoperability between
> domestic and export versions of products using S/MIME. 
>
>
> Developed in 1987 by cryptography pioneer Ron Rivest, inventor of the RSA
> public key cryptosystem, RC2 is in widespread use in a number of
> commercial software packages, including Lotus Notes, Microsoft Windows,
> Internet Explorer and Netscape Communication's Navigator and
> Communicator.  RSA will continue to license RC2 in a variety of RSA
> security toolkits, including BSAFE and SMAIL, as a method of providing
> flexible data privacy. 
>
>
> RC2's flexibility lets vendors tailor the level of security in their
> products, allowing them to use long encryption keys where permitted, or
> to meet federal constraints on key size for exportable applications.  In
> addition, applications that utilize RC2 for privacy enjoy accelerated
> export approval from the federal government. 
>
>
> S/MIME is considered the de facto standard for interoperable, secure
> e-mail and is used by major vendors, including Microsoft, IBM, Netscape
> Communications and VeriSign, Inc.  S/MIME allows vendors to develop
> interoperable RSA-based security for electronic messaging products, so
> that an S/MIME message composed and encrypted on one vendor's application
> can be decrypted on another.  S/MIME is based on a combination of the
> standard MIME specification and the intervendor Public Key Cryptography
> Standards (PKCS), one of the most widely implemented suite of commercial
> cryptographic standards in the U.S. 
>
>
> "The worldwide deployment of secure, interoperable e-mail can be
> accelerated by the use of single standard, such as S/MIME, which has
> already gained the endorsement of many of the industry's leading vendors
> of e-mail and messaging products," said Jim Bidzos, president of RSA. 
> "By publishing the description of RC2, we are facilitating the IETF's
> approval of S/MIME as the industry's preferred solution for protecting
> sensitive e-mail communications." 
>
>
> "RSA is pleased to make its intellectual property available to the IETF
> in support of standards," added Steve Dusse, chief technology officer of
> RSA. 
>
>
> "The Internet Mail Consortium is pleased to be involved in making S/MIME
> an open standard in the IETF," said Paul Hoffman, director of the
> Internet Mail Consortium (IMC) and a co-author of the S/MIME draft. 
> "RSA's move to publish the RC2 description will help accelerate the
> standardization process and benefit the entire Internet mail community
> and the many vendors already committed to S/MIME." 
>
>
> To help assure the performance of e-mail products designed to the S/MIME
> specification, RSA is currently sponsoring a third round of
> Internet-based interoperability testing at the S/MIME Interoperability
> Center,
> <<<underline><color><param>0000,0000,fefe</param>http://www.rsa.com/rsa/S</co
> lor></underline>><underline><color><param>0000,0000,fefe</param>http://www.rs
> a.com/rsa/S-MIME/html/interop_center.html.</color></underline>
> To date, eight e-mail products, including Netscape's Communicator, Frontier
> Technologies' Intranet Genie, ConnectSoft's E-mail Connection, Deming
> Software's Secure Messenger Entrust, NEL's Mahobin, OpenSoft's Express Mail,
> and freeware Premail, have earned the S/MIME-certified logo.  Companies
> participating in RSA's current round of interoperability testing include,
> Baltimore Technologies, Ltd., Microsoft Corporation, NTT Electronics
> Technology Corp., and SSE, Ltd. 
>
>
> While originally proposed as a standard for secure, interoperable e-mail,
> vendors have recently begun to evaluate S/MIME as the basis for creating
> other Internet-based secure messaging applications such as Electronic Data
> Interchange (EDI) and military communications.  Earlier this year, the
> CommerceNet Consortium selected S/MIME as the primary technology for its EDI
> Over the Internet initiative. 
>
>
> RSA is also working closely with a number of vendors and the U.S. government
> to incorporate S/MIME into the Defense Messaging System (DMS).  The
> blueprint, expected later this summer, is designed to allow the government to
> use off-the-shelf electronic messaging software, reducing government costs
> and expanding the market for vendors. 
>
>
> RSA Data Security, Inc. 
>
>
> RSA Data Security, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Security Dynamics
> Technologies, Inc., is the world's brand name for cryptography, with more
> than 80 million copies of RSA encryption and authentication technologies
> installed and in use worldwide.  RSA technologies are part of existing and
> proposed standards for the Internet and World Wide Web, CCITT, ISO, ANSI,
> IEEE, and business, financial and electronic commerce networks around the
> globe. The company develops and markets platform-independent developer's kits
> and end-user products and provides comprehensive cryptographic consulting
> services. 
>
>
> Founded in 1982 by the inventors of the RSA Public Key Cryptosystem, the
> company is headquartered in Redwood City, Calif. 
>
>
> NOTE:  RC2 is a registered trademark and BSAFE, SMAIL and S/MIME are
> trademarks of RSA Data Security Inc.  All other product or brand names are
> trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners. SOURCE  RSA
> Data Security Inc. 
> Copyright 1997, PR Newswire