Trusting Cryptography

The information security profession, and cryptography in particular, has passed into a new era where credible evidence has surfaced that reveal that several world governments have played a role in the deliberate weakening of cryptosystems, to facilitate domestic and international espionage. Prior to these revelations, information security professionals could place their trust in national standards bodies, major encryption product vendors, and government organizations. This trust has been broken and will not be easily mended.

A significant challenge in both public and private sectors will be the establishment of new ways to measure the validity and integrity of cryptosystems.  Or, perhaps a new approach will be new and novel uses of cryptography in order to make the compromise of a cryptosystem more difficult than before. The collective discussion on this topic will run its course over several years, resulting in the development of new validation platforms as well as improved application of cryptosystems.

– excerpt from the cryptography chapter of a college textbook still in development