64 lines
2.6 KiB
Plaintext
64 lines
2.6 KiB
Plaintext
Contact: John Makulowich NIST 91-15
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(301) 975-2762
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE NIST PROPOSES COMPUTER SECURITY
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"DIGITAL SIGNATURE" STANDARD
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The federal agency responsible for developing standards to
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assure privacy of unclassified information in federal computer
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systems today published its proposal for a Digital Signature
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Standard (DSS) in the Federal Register.
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The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)
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seeks comments on the proposal from the public, industry, and
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federal, state and local government users. After considering the
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comments, NIST will submit the proposed standard to the Commerce
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Secretary for review and approval.
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The DSS will allow federal agencies to verify the integrity
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of electronic data and the sender's identity. Third parties can
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also determine the authenticity of a signature and its associated
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data.
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The proposed standard adopts a system which uses
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mathematical formulas to create and verify a digital value called
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a signature. The signature consists of a pair of large numbers
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represented as a series of 0s and 1s.
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The government has filed for a U.S. patent on this technique
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and plans to seek foreign patents.
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NIST arrived at the proposed Federal Information Processing
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Standard (FIPS) after evaluating several digital signature
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techniques. In making the selection, NIST followed the Computer
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Security Act of 1987, which provides that the agency that develop
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standards and guidelines to "... assure the cost-effective
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security and privacy of sensitive information in federal
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systems."
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Written comments, due Nov. 29, 1991, should be sent to the
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Director, Computer Systems Laboratory, NIST, ATTN: Proposed FIPS
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for DSS, B154 Technology Bldg., Gaithersburg, Md. 20899.
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Technical questions should be referred to Miles Smid at
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(301) 975-2938.
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An agency of the U.S. Commerce Department's Technology
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Administration, NIST strengthens U.S. industrial competitiveness,
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advances science, and improves public health, safety and the
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environment.
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###
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8/30/91
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NOTE TO EDITORS/REPORTERS
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The full text of the Federal Register notice is available to
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the news media by contacting John Makulowich at
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(301) 975-2762 (voice)
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(301) 926-1630 (fax)
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johnjohn@micf.nist.gov (e-mail: Internet)
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72427,2076 (e-mail: CIS)
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**********************************************************************
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The announcment and proposal can be downloaded from the Files Section
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under the Research Directory. The file is " DSS.TXT "
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**********************************************************************
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