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October 13, 1997, Section:

Sun Crypto Whiz Speaks Out

By Margie Semilof

ATLANTA -- The political battle over encryption on the Internet may delay installing correct security mechanisms and could therefore benefit criminals. That's one potential outcome if industry and government don't act swiftly and carefully to install such mechanisms as essential elements of the move into cyberspace, said Whitfield Diffie, the inventor of public key cryptography and a distinguished security engineer at Sun Microsystems, in Mountain View, Calif.

"The characteristics of networks, the diversity of equipment, and the need to get a worldwide system to work makes this an interoperability problem," said Diffie, at NetWorld+Interop in Atlanta.

Diffie outlined the history of encryption, noting changes in communication and the heightening need to ensure privacy.

"A century-and-a-half ago, you could talk to someone a few feet away and you needed no precautions," he said. "Today, you can call someone anywhere, but the privacy of that conversation is hard to assure."

Diffie said what were once facts of life -- the assumption of privacy -- are now matters of public policy.

The movement toward the mobile IP networks has a vulnerability built in because of the required flexibility of these connections. Just as the network is still in its infancy, Diffie said, the need for security is also in its infancy.

"In moving to the online world, we are opening up tremendous vulnerabilities, giving opportunities to cold warriors looking for new jobs," he said. "We are moving into this online world without preparing for security."

"I think the natural attitude of national security is to say, this is a job for the army, like defending the border," he added. "I don't believe their resources are adequate to the task."