makekey(1)                          CLIX                          makekey(1)



  NAME

    makekey - Generates an encryption key

  SYNOPSIS

    /usr/lib/makekey

  DESCRIPTION

    The makekey command improves the usefulness of encryption schemes that
    depend on a key by increasing the amount of time required to search the
    key space.  It reads 10 bytes from stdin and writes 13 bytes on stdout.
    The output depends on the input in a way intended to be difficult to
    compute (in other words, to require a substantial fraction of a second).

    The first eight input bytes (the input key) can be arbitrary ASCII
    characters.  The last two (the salt) are best chosen from the set of
    digits, ., /, and uppercase and lowercase letters.  The salt characters
    are repeated as the first two characters of the output.  The remaining 11
    output characters are chosen from the same set as the salt and constitute
    the output key.

    The transformation performed is essentially the following:  the salt is
    used to select one of 4,096 cryptographic machines all based on the
    National Bureau of Standards DES algorithm, but broken in 4,096 different
    ways.  Using the input key as key, a constant string is fed into the
    machine and recirculated a number of times.  The 64 bits that come out are
    distributed into the 66 output key bits in the result.

    The makekey command is intended for programs that perform encryption.
    Usually, its input and output will be pipes.

  EXAMPLES

    The following entry will return a 13-character encryption code:

    echo reversefoo /usr/lib/makekey


  CAUTIONS

    This command is provided with the Security Administration Utilities, which
    is only available in the United States.

  EXIT VALUES

    The makekey command always exits with a value of 0.

  RELATED INFORMATION




  2/94 - Intergraph Corporation                                              1

  makekey(1)                          CLIX                          makekey(1)



    Commands: ed(1), crypt(1), vi(1)

    Files: passwd(4)



















































  2                                              Intergraph Corporation - 2/94