Clipper chip

The Escrowed Encryption Standard ( EES ) is a process developed in the U.S. in April 1993 chip -bonded symmetric encryption system. As the developer of the algorithm applies the NSA.

The biggest difference to other encryption methods is that authorities where necessary, the U.S. can get access to the keys that are used by two users to exchange data.

The method is specified so that the interception two keys are needed, which are deposited with various authorities, and which are to be simultaneously released only by court order.

This official accessibility is not achieved by a built-in back door in the technical sense, but by the deposit of two partial keys. In the presence of legal conditions, the two key parts are edited and put together.

It was criticized early on that the same time defined by the process of communication protocol has weaknesses that facilitate an attack at least. At the same vulnerabilities have been identified in a previous algorithm of Skipjack method used.

For the encryption of voice communication of the Clipper chip should be built into phones. For the encryption of data from the Capstone chip should be applied. The installation in PCs and use by applications and operating systems should this be enforced by law.