In the information dependent world in which we now live cryptography can be found all around us, often in places where you would not expect it. When people think about encryption they tend to think about vast computer banks processing military and diplomatic communications, or a world war two rotor cipher machine slowly deciphering an order. In reality, cryptography - although obviously essential for the military and diplomatic services - has many commercial uses and applications. From protecting confidential company information, to protecting a telephone call, to allowing someone to order a product on the Internet without the fear of their credit card number being intercepted and used against them, cryptography is all about increasing the level of privacy of individuals and groups. For example, cryptography is often used to prevent forgers from counterfeiting winning lottery tickets. Each lottery ticket can have two numbers printed onto it, one plaintext and one the corresponding cipher. Unless the counterfeiter has cryptanalysed the lottery’s cryptosystem he or she will not be able to print an acceptable forgery.
In a world where virtually all data of any importance is held on a computer system the necessity of cryptography cannot be disputed.
Widespread use of cryptosystems is something most governments are not particularly happy about - precisely because it threatens to give more privacy to the individual, including criminals. For many years, police forces have been able to tap phone lines and intercept mail, however, in an encrypted future that may become impossible.
This has lead to some pretty strange decisions on the part of governments, particularly the United States government. In the United States, cryptography is classed as a munition and the export of programs containing cryptosystems is tightly controlled. In 1992, the Software Publishers Association reached agreement with the State Department to allow the export of software that contained RSA's RC2 and RC4 encryption algorithms, but only if the key size was limited to 40 bits as opposed to the 128 bit keys available for use within the US. This significantly reduced the level of privacy produced. In 1997 this was increased to 56 bits. The US government has proposed several methods whereby it would allow the export of stronger encryption, all based on a system where the US government could gain access to the keys if necessary, for example the clipper chip.
The resolution of this issue is regarded to be one of the most important for the future of e-commerce.
Tidak ada komentar:
Posting Komentar