New Linux kernel debuts, adds more suspect NSA-sourced crypto

https://www.itnews.com.au/news/new-linux-kernel-debuts-adds-more-suspect-nsa-sourced-crypto-500094

by mindfulhack • 8 years ago

43 26 8 years ago

itnews.com.au

lainga• 8 years ago

I encourage ITNews or anyone else to point out what's suspect about Speck. It's so tiny I don't see where you can or would put the compromise.

geggam3• 8 years ago

remember this guy ?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Snowden

tptacek6• 8 years ago

Yes. Now, finish the thought.

otp124• 8 years ago

Well, is Speck enabled by default? If not, then this title sounds a bit like they fear-mongering, or just general FUD.

zaarn• 8 years ago

To my knowledge, on Arch it's enabled as module, so unless some application uses Speck (which are none that I have installed, care about or know) then the module will not be loaded and do nothing.

dagenix2• 8 years ago

This email outlines some potential issues with Speck: https://www.spinics.net/lists/linux-crypto/msg33291.html

And that was discussed here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17214827

I really can't judge the quality of that critique of Speck, but, its a lot more interesting than just "NSA = bad".

tptacek6• 8 years ago

A comment on the thread from the code's contributor is super useful: SPECK was added because on low-end Android devices with less than 50MB/s AES, it enables phones to have encryption enabled by default. That is, SPECK is useful in cases where the alternative would be no encryption at all.

I'd be a little surprised if SPECK was the only workable answer here.

Later:

It isn't; Google is doing HPolyC instead.

ebiggers• 8 years ago

You can read about some of the other options considered here: https://marc.info/?l=linux-crypto-vger&m=152573520705012. But in the end, a new ChaCha-based mode suitable for disk encryption (https://eprint.iacr.org/2018/720.pdf) had to be designed since there didn't seem to be any alternative block cipher that met the strict performance and security requirements. LEA-128 maybe comes close, but it hasn't undergone too much cryptanalysis yet (much less than Speck).

amaccuish2• 8 years ago

Google has decided not to use it [1], so there is discussion of it being removed [2].

[1] https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=No-Speck...

[2] https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Linux-Ke...

amaccuish2• 8 years ago

After Dual_EC_DRBG, and the early warnings and raised eyebrows, I feel like "there's no smoke without fire" is a good way to operate nowadays concerning the NSA.

New Linux kernel debuts, adds more suspect NSA-sourced crypto

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