AVX-Optimized SM3 Hashing For The Linux Kernel Nets Up To 38% Improvement

[smitty3268]

I don't know what the motivation is for Chinese cryptographic standards, but I doubt they can hide backdoors from linux devs.

The same motivation the NSA has for providing this type of thing.

It's to make sure their country's have a secure crypto ability that hasn't been compromised by another country inserting hidden vulnerabilities into their algorithms. Or, you know, inserting hidden vulnerabilities into algorithms they want others to use. Depending on how paranoid you are.

This isn't something kernel devs would find backdoors in either, by the way. It'd be something for mathematicians to prove whether the underlying algorithm is secure or not. AFAIK everything *should* be secure, for both this and the NSA provided security algorithms. But no one really knows for sure.

[F.Ultra]

Out curiosity, how cryptographically secure are SM3 and SM4 according to peer reviewed cryptanalysis?

Is this the equivalent of the NSA once recommending DES/3-DES in order to allow them to decrypt "secure" communications at will?

No this is equivalent to AES but developed in China by Chinese so that they can know 100% that NSA have not compromised it somehow. Just like them investing in RISC-V this is a step to be less dependent on western developed technology.

[sdack]

A Chinese crypto algorithm, hmm. That doesn't instill confidence.

When did any country or government not try to take influence on cryptography? They all do it with some being sneakier than others. And just because the US, Europe, Russia, or Isreal is behind it should not make you feel any more confident. It just ends being racist when you try to make this specifically about China and I really would like not to see racist comments on these forums.

[WorBlux]

When did any country or government not try to take influence on cryptography? They all do it with some being sneakier than others. And just because the US, Europe, Russia, or Isreal is behind it should not make you feel any more confident. It just ends being racist when you try to make this specifically about China and I really would like not to see racist comments on these forums.

The Chinese Communist Party, is not exactly equivalent to the Chinese race.

And while other countries government's dream of key escrow China goes ahead and mandates it. The may not even be any hidden trips in the algorithms, they are just standardized for ease of enforcement.

[sdack]

The Chinese Communist Party, is not exactly equivalent to the Chinese race.

One can say the same about ice cream, but this is not what was said. He was not talking about the CCP. He called it a "Chinese crypto algorithm" and expressed his lack of confidence about it. This is racist and you should not try to defend it. We do not want racism here on these forums.

[ermo]

One can say the same about ice cream, but this is not what was said. He was not talking about the CCP. He called it a "Chinese crypto algorithm" and expressed his lack of confidence about it. This is racist and you should not try to defend it. We do not want racism here on these forums.

It didn't sound like racism to me in the "it was made by a chinese entity, therefore it must be of poor quality"-sense.

Rather, the implication appeared to be that, given China's (= the state apparatus) apparent attitude towards Free Speech and the existence of the Great Firewall, "Chinese crypto algorithm" is not as much racist as it is meme and value by association.

As part of their work, a member of my family has contact with members of the Scientific community living in China. These contacts (for whatever reason) insist on using the WeChat platform (that doesn't support encryption), which is known to be monitored by the Chinese authorities.

In practical terms, this is what "Chinese crypto algorithms" means to me: Crypto or applications that are constructed such that it is security theater, rather than truly cryptographically secure and private according to state-of-the-art cryptanalysis. Sure, it might be a misinformed stance, but -- given what we (think we) know -- is it really outright racist?

Out of curiosity, is it also racist to suggest that a "Chinese crypto algorithm" might be as solid as a piece of Swiss cheese for all we know? And if so, should the Swiss or the Chinese be the ones to take offence?

Lighten up.

[sdack]

It didn't sound like racism ... Lighten up.

It does not matter what it sounds like. Learn what racism looks like and speak out about it. It is the least you can do. You should follow your own advice here and lighten up. It is close to Christmas and nobody needs anti-Chinese comments especially this time of year.

With that said, many gifts under people's Christmas trees will have been made in China. Some of the clothes you wear will have been made by Chinese people. Wanting to defend and cultivate anti-Chinese comments is really only pathetic, don't you think?

[WorBlux]

Out of curiosity, is it also racist to suggest that a "Chinese crypto algorithm" might be as solid as a piece of Swiss cheese for all we know? And if so, should the Swiss or the Chinese be the ones to take offence?

Lighten up.

If there is a flaw it's subtle like the NIST flaws we've seen. But the full algorithm is under ISO standards, and peer reviewed, so far nothing has popped out as broken.

WeChat platform (that doesn't support encryption), which is known to be monitored by the Chinese authorities.

But encryption wouldn't change the monitoring, the CCP could just ask for a backdoor. If a Chinese company actually made an end to end solution, it'd be a sure bet that company executives would start to disappear. As for communicating with a foreign science lab in such a manner, you might as well walk down to the local police station and tell them you are a foreign spy. "Rights and due process? - Hah, that's for the stupid decadent corrupt white men, Ain't nobody going to keep China down."

[ResponseWriter]

The statement was not intended to be racist in any way. I have nothing against the Chinese people, only their government which is known to be heavily involved in surveillance (as a friend of my family can attest). That's what makes it more difficult for me to trust compared to, say, a USA or European developed algorithm.