Libelle (cipher)

Dragonfly is a undisclosed, symmetric encryption method of the Federal Office for Security in Information Technology.

It is implemented on a so-called PLUTO chip in hardware. The chip allows key lengths up to 160 bits. The method is in certain versions of SINA VPN use. It is by BSI for the protection of classified information (VS ) of the security level " Top Secret " admitted.

The safety philosophy of the BSI required for the processing of classified state ( VS) higher levels of confidentiality only unpublished algorithms use (security through obscurity ). In contrast, the security forces of the United States set to the highest level of secrecy to the disclosed method Suite B and use only for the most critical systems, the secret process of Suite A.

According to the Pluto data sheet has dragonfly (up to? ) 160 bit key length and works with 64-bit block size. Pluto supports the cryptographic modes of operation ECB, CBC and CFB / OFB with a block size of 1, 8, 16, 32 or 64 bits.