Niels Ferguson
Encyclopedia
Niels T. Ferguson is a Dutch
cryptographer and consultant who currently works for Microsoft
. He has worked with others, including Bruce Schneier
, designing cryptographic algorithms, testing algorithms and protocols, and writing papers and books. Among the designs Ferguson has contributed to is the AES finalist block cipher algorithm Twofish
as well as the stream cipher Helix
and the Skein hash function
.
In 1999, Niels Ferguson, together with Bruce Schneier
and John Kelsey
, developed the Yarrow algorithm
random number generator. Yarrow was later developed by Niels Ferguson and Bruce Schneier into the Fortuna
random number generator.
In 2001, he claimed to have broken the HDCP
system that is incorporated into HD DVD
and Blu-ray Disc
s players, similar to the DVD
s Content Scramble System
, but has not published his research, citing the Digital Millennium Copyright Act
of 1998, which would make such publication illegal.
At the CRYPTO 2007 conference rump session, Niels Ferguson and Dan Shumow presented an informal paper describing a weakness in the NIST specified Dual EC DRBG
PRNG.
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
cryptographer and consultant who currently works for Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
. He has worked with others, including Bruce Schneier
Bruce Schneier
Bruce Schneier is an American cryptographer, computer security specialist, and writer. He is the author of several books on general security topics, computer security and cryptography, and is the founder and chief technology officer of BT Managed Security Solutions, formerly Counterpane Internet...
, designing cryptographic algorithms, testing algorithms and protocols, and writing papers and books. Among the designs Ferguson has contributed to is the AES finalist block cipher algorithm Twofish
Twofish
In cryptography, Twofish is a symmetric key block cipher with a block size of 128 bits and key sizes up to 256 bits. It was one of the five finalists of the Advanced Encryption Standard contest, but was not selected for standardisation...
as well as the stream cipher Helix
Phelix
Phelix is a high-speed stream cipher with a built-in single-pass message authentication code functionality, submitted in 2004 to the eSTREAM contest by Doug Whiting, Bruce Schneier, Stefan Lucks, and Frédéric Muller. The cipher uses only the operations of addition modulo 232, exclusive or, and...
and the Skein hash function
Skein (hash function)
Skein is a cryptographic hash function and one out of five finalists in the NIST hash function competition to design what will become the SHA-3 standard, the intended successor of SHA-1 and SHA-2...
.
In 1999, Niels Ferguson, together with Bruce Schneier
Bruce Schneier
Bruce Schneier is an American cryptographer, computer security specialist, and writer. He is the author of several books on general security topics, computer security and cryptography, and is the founder and chief technology officer of BT Managed Security Solutions, formerly Counterpane Internet...
and John Kelsey
John Kelsey (cryptanalyst)
John Kelsey is a cryptographer currently working at NIST. His research interests include cryptanalysis and design of symmetric cryptography primitives , analysis and design of cryptographic protocols, cryptographic random number generation, electronic voting, side-channel attacks on cryptography...
, developed the Yarrow algorithm
Yarrow algorithm
The Yarrow algorithm is a cryptographically secure pseudorandom number generator. The name is taken from the yarrow plant, the stalks of which are dried and used as a randomising agent in I Ching divination....
random number generator. Yarrow was later developed by Niels Ferguson and Bruce Schneier into the Fortuna
Fortuna (PRNG)
Fortuna is a cryptographically secure pseudorandom number generator devised by Bruce Schneier and Niels Ferguson. It is named after Fortuna, the Roman goddess of chance.- Design :Fortuna is a family of secure PRNGs; its design...
random number generator.
In 2001, he claimed to have broken the HDCP
High-Bandwidth Digital Content Protection
High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection is a form of digital copy protection developed by Intel Corporation to prevent copying of digital audio and video content as it travels across connections...
system that is incorporated into HD DVD
HD DVD
HD DVD is a discontinued high-density optical disc format for storing data and high-definition video.Supported principally by Toshiba, HD DVD was envisioned to be the successor to the standard DVD format...
and Blu-ray Disc
Blu-ray Disc
Blu-ray Disc is an optical disc storage medium designed to supersede the DVD format. The plastic disc is 120 mm in diameter and 1.2 mm thick, the same size as DVDs and CDs. Blu-ray Discs contain 25 GB per layer, with dual layer discs being the norm for feature-length video discs...
s players, similar to the DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
s Content Scramble System
Content Scramble System
Content Scramble System is a Digital Rights Management and encryption system employed on almost all commercially produced DVD-Video discs. CSS utilizes a proprietary 40-bit stream cipher algorithm...
, but has not published his research, citing the Digital Millennium Copyright Act
Digital Millennium Copyright Act
The Digital Millennium Copyright Act is a United States copyright law that implements two 1996 treaties of the World Intellectual Property Organization . It criminalizes production and dissemination of technology, devices, or services intended to circumvent measures that control access to...
of 1998, which would make such publication illegal.
At the CRYPTO 2007 conference rump session, Niels Ferguson and Dan Shumow presented an informal paper describing a weakness in the NIST specified Dual EC DRBG
Dual EC DRBG
Dual_EC_DRBG or Dual Elliptic Curve Deterministic Random Bit Generator is a controversial pseudorandom number generator designed and published by the National Security Agency. It is based on the elliptic curve discrete logarithm problem and is one of the four PRNGs standardized in the NIST...
PRNG.