Original URL: https://www.theregister.com/1998/08/24/big_blue_claims_encryption_breakthrough/

Big Blue claims encryption breakthrough

Boffins come up with "unbreakable" method

By Staff writer

Posted in On-Prem, 24th August 1998 10:27 GMT

IBM said today that it has achieved something many software developers thought impossible, unbreakable encryption to provide security for e-commerce and other transactions. The Swiss Federal Institute of Technology and mathematicians from IBM's research labs, have worked together to create a technology called the Cramer Shoup cryptosystem. According to Big Blue, the method, which is named after IBM researcher Victor Shoup and Swiss Federal Institute mathematician Ronald Cramer, the method will avoid attacks on security by adding an additional layer of calculations to make existing encryption more powerful. Previous claims of "secure encryption" have all been thwarted by teams or individuals who have managed to break them, often within hours. IBM said it will license the technology free of charge to software and other interested parties and that it will also use the method in future versions of its own products. ®