Elliptic curve cryptography (ECC) was discovered in 1985 by
Victor Miller (IBM) and Neil Koblitz (University of Washington) as an
alternative mechanism for implementing public-key cryptography. Public-key
algorithms create a mechanism for sharing keys among large numbers of
participants or entities in a complex information system. Unlike other
popular algorithms such as RSA, ECC is based on discrete logarithms that
much more difficult to challenge at equivalent key lengths. At its discovery, the ECC algorithm was described and placed in the public domain. What others found was that while it offered greater potential security it was slow. Certicom focused its efforts on creating better implementations of the algorithm to improve its performance. After many years of research, Certicom introduced the first commercial toolkit to support ECC and make it practical for use in a variety of applications. Other cryptographers have also become interested in ECC. Today Certicom sponsors the Centre for Advanced Cryptographic Research (CACR) at the University of Waterloo, Ontario along with the Canadian government, Mondex, MasterCard International, and Pitney Bowes. Each year the Centre sponsors an ECC workshop attended by over 100 top cryptographers to discuss advances in the field of elliptic curve cryptography. Other important industry activity is bringing additional credibility to the technology. The ECC Challenge offers an opportunity for people around the world to create new methods of attacking the algorithm and exposing any weaknesses. The longer an algorithm stands up to attack the more confidence developers have in its ultimate security. The ECC Challenge started in November 1997 and still runs today. Also important is the formation of the Standards for Efficient Cryptography Group. The SECG is a consortium of leading providers of cryptography and information security solutions who have united to address the lack of interoperability between today's different cryptographic solutions. |