BATON
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| Designer(s): | National Security Agency |
|---|---|
| Key size(s): | 320 bits (160 effective) |
| Block size(s): | 128 bits |
BATON is a Type 1 block cipher, used broadly throughout the United States government to secure all types of classified information.
BATON has a 128-bit block size and a 320-bit key. 160 bits of the key are checksum material; they do not affect the security of the algorithm itself but rather prevent unauthorized keys from being loaded if a BATON device ends up in the hands of an adversary. BATON is fast: on the Advanced INFOSEC Machine (AIM) chip, it encrypts data at 129% of the clock rate, as opposed to 76% for DES, 25% for Triple DES, and 4% for SAVILLE. Its speed and parallelizability were major factors in its selection.
The Sierra II documentation suggests that BATON may be related to MEDLEY.
[edit] Usage
BATON is used in a variety of products and standards:
- APCO Project 25 (Public standard for land mobile radio) (Algorithm IDs 01 and 41)
- PKCS #11 (Public standard for encryption tokens)
- CDSA/CSSM (Another public standard)
- HAIPE (NSA's version of IPsec, previously known as HAIPIS)
- FNBDT (Advanced flexible voice security protocol)
- Thales Datacryptor 2000 (a British network-encryption box)
- SecNet-11 (a crypto-secure 802.11b PC Card, based on the Sierra chip)
- Fortezza Plus (a PC Card product, used in the STE)
- SafeXcel-3340 (a HAIPIS network-encryption box)
- Numerous embeddable encryption modules: AIM, CYPRIS, MYK-85, Sierra (microchip), etc.
