Privacy - Digital Signature, ID & Authentication

cpsr_brooks.letter

File containing August 1992 text of a letter Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility (CPSR) recently sent to Rep. Jack Brooks, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee. The letter raises several issues concerning computer security and cryptography policy, including digital signature.

fips_dss_doc.rfc

File containing NIST's August 1991 notice requesting comments on a proposed Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) for Digital Signature Standard (DSS). This proposed standard specifies a public- key based digital signature algorithm (DSA) appropriate for Federal digital signature applications. The proposed DSS uses a public key to verify to a recipient the integrity of data and the identity of the sender of the data. The DSS can also be used by a third party to ascertain the authenticity of a signature and the data associated with it.

fips_dss_proposed.standard

File containing August 1991 announcement by NIST of the proposed Digital Signature Standard (DSS). This standard specifies a Digital Signature Algorithm (DSA) which can be used to generate a digital signature. Digital signatures are used to detect unauthorized modifications to data and to authenticate the identity of the user who generates the signature. In addition, the recipient of signed data can use a digital signature in proving to a third party that the signature was in fact generated by the signer of the data. This is known as nonrepudiation since the signer of data cannot, at a later time, repudiate the signature.

fips_sha_shs.info

On January 31, 1992, NIST published in the Federal Register a proposed Secure Hash Standard (SHS) designed to work with the proposed DSS. This is a copy of the proposed standard's announcement section, technical specifications and appendix A.

fips_sha_shs.standard

January 1992 draft of the specifications for a secure hash standard (SHS) designed to work with the proposed DSS.

nist_dss.bulletin

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has proposed a public key-based Digital Signature Standard (DSS). This CSL Bulletin provides agencies with information regarding the proposed standard and describes several applications which may benefit from the DSS.

nist_dss_clipper_des_042993.testimony

File containing statement of Raymond Kammer, Acting Director, National Institute of Standards and Technology, before the House Subcommittee on Telecommunications and Finance (Committee on Energy and Commerce), on April 29, 1993. Kammer discusses NIST's activities in telecommunications security, the planned recertification of the Data Encryption Standard, the proposed Digital Signature Standard, and the Clipper Chip.