Elliptic Curves

[Juan Rodriguez Torrent <torrent@xxxxxxx>]

There are several commercial ventures (indirectly referenced by Charles
Breed -below-) with large amounts of money at stake if ECDSA is not
quickly and broadly accepted. This results in a intense pressure on the
technical community to speed-up the acceptance of the ECDSA algorithm
regardless of its maturity. I think Jueneman's position (below) is well
thought and I like very much his suggestion of inclusion without
endorsement.

Juan

Housley, Russ wrote:
> 
> Since we began work on PKIX part 1, Elliptic Curve thecnology has become
> more and more mature.  In fact, ANSI X9.62 looks pretty close to final.
> How do people feel about ading the ECDSA algorithm to the list of signature
> algorithms in part 1?
> 
> Russ




Bob Jueneman wrote:
> 
> My only concern is that various states, the legal community, and users tend
> to be strongly influenced by the actions of standards groups in areas such
> as this.
> 
> I'm not taking any position one way or the other regarding the maturity of
> elliptic curves from a cryptanalytic standpoint, although as a matter of
> prudence I would not feel comfortable using them for high-value transactions
> until they have been subected to several more years of examination by the
> cryptographic community.
> 
> I believe that before we take any position regarding the inclusion or
> exclusion of a particular algorithm, we should think through what such an
> inclusion implies, and the process by which we should reach such a decision.
> 
> I have no problem with listing an algorithm identifier for a particular
> algorithm, so long as we specifically say that we are neither endorsing  nor
> recommending against its use, but rather feel that it is a decision that
> must be left to the user at this time.
> 
> Bob
> 
> >>> Charles Breed <cbreed@pgp.com> 06/16/97 09:38AM >>>
> Having the flexibility to add new algorithms is always a smart thing.
> Elliptic curve (discrete log-based asymmetric) algorithms make a lot of
> sense, wrt smart cards and their need for small keys, low memory and low
> burden on CPUs. As long as the relevant PKCS 'standards' can accommodate the
> new algorithm, I vote YES.
> 
> Charles
> 



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