NetNews Usenet Archive 1992 #18/NN_1992_18.iso/spool/sci/crypt/2905

Text File | 1992-08-14 | 1.4 KB | 37 lines

Newsgroups: sci.crypt
Path: sparky!uunet!orca!itchy!rjones
From: [e-mail] (Ray Jones - Perp)
Subject: PD public key system
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Sender: [e-mail]
Nntp-Posting-Host: 130.187.85.106
Organization: Design Systems Division, Evans & Sutherland, SLC, UT
Date: Sat, 15 Aug 92 06:09:03 GMT
Lines: 25


I'm working on a client/server pair that requires some sort of
verification.  The method I wanted to use was:

Client requests a connect to the server.
Server sends client random string of characters, <s>.
Server and client both encode <s> with an algorithm driven by the internet
    address of the server.
Client encodes the new string with its private key, sends that message
    back, prepended with the public key of that client.
Server checks that the public key is on a list of "accepted" clients, and
    decodes the message with the public key, and checks against what it
    calculated, to ensure the key is "for real."

I was planning on using the RSA algorithm, but I also need to make this
code almost completely distributable (PD).  I understand that if I try to
do that with the RSA system, I'll probably get sued...

Any suggestions?  Is it true I can't use RSA?  Is there a scheme that would
work for the above and that I could also distribute?

Thanks.
--
                                          Ray Jones
                                          [e-mail]