Cylink Gets OK to Export Triple-DES Without Key Recovery

Cylink Corp. said the U.S. Department of Commerce approved shipment of triple-DES (Data Encryption Standard) versions of Cylink’s product lines without key recovery to international financial institutions and to subsidiaries of U.S. multinationals.

Cylink said it is the first company in the nation given such broad approval for distribution of high-level security products without key recovery to financial institutions and multinationals.

“Approval from the Department of Commerce to ship the triple-DES versions of our products allows us to provide the strongest network security capabilities available to organizations around the globe,” said Fernand Sarrat, president and chief executive officer. “It gives Cylink customers a choice regarding key recovery, and it provides Cylink with enhanced opportunities for increased international sales.”

The license allows the use of Cylink’s triple-DES products to protect
inter/intra-bank communications and transactions, including teleconferencing,
and to secure the proprietary data of subsidiaries. Customers will include
small community and large commercial financial institutions and subsidiary
operations of U.S. multinationals.

In December 1997, Cylink announced it was the first hardware supplier of
encryption products to gain export license for triple-DES encryption without
key recovery to European central banks.

Triple-DES is considered one of the strongest forms of commercial encryption
in which data is encrypted three times using the 56-bit-key DES.

In line with U.S. government policy, all approvals granted to Cylink include
exportation to all countries in the world with the exception of the seven
embargoed countries of Cuba, Iran, Iraq, Libya, North Korea, Sudan and Syria.