DES(1)

NAME
des - encrypt or decrypt data using Data Encryption Standard

SYNOPSIS
des ( -e | -E ) | ( -d | -D ) | ( -[cC][ckname] ) | [ -b3hfs ] [ -k key ] ] [ -u[uuname] [ input-file [ output-file ] ]

DESCRIPTION
des encrypts and decrypts data using the Data Encryption Standard algorithm. One of -e, -E (for encrypt) or -d, -D (for decrypt) must be specified. It is also possible to use -c or -C in conjunction or instead of the a encrypt/decrypt option to generate a 16 character hexadecimal checksum, generated via the des_cbc_cksum.

Two standard encryption modes are supported by the des program, Cipher Block Chaining (the default) and Electronic Code Book (specified with -b ).

The key used for the DES algorithm is obtained by prompting the user unless the `-k key' option is given. If the key is an argument to the des command, it is potentially visible to users executing ps(1) or a derivative. To minimise this possibility, des takes care to destroy the key argument immediately upon entry. If your shell keeps a history file be careful to make sure it is not world readable.

Since this program attempts to maintain compatibility with SunOS's des(1) command, there are 2 different methods used to convert the user supplied key to a des key. Whenever and one or more of -E, -D, -C or -3 options are used, the key conversion procedure will not be compatible with the SunOS des(1) version but will use all the user supplied character to generate the des key. des command reads from standard input unless input-file is specified and writes to standard output unless output-file is given.

OPTIONS

-b  Select ECB (eight bytes at a time) encryption mode.

-3  Encrypt using triple encryption. By default triple cbc encryption is used but if the -b option is used then triple ecb encryption is performed. If the key is less than 8 characters long, the flag has no effect.

-e  Encrypt data using an 8 byte key in a manner compatible with SunOS des(1).

-E  Encrypt data using a key of nearly unlimited length (1024 bytes). This will product a more secure encryption.

-d  Decrypt data that was encrypted with the -e option.

-D  Decrypt data that was encrypted with the -E option.

-c  Generate a 16 character hexadecimal cbc checksum and output this to stderr. If a filename was specified after the -c option, the checksum is output to that file. The checksum is generated using a key generated in a SunOS compatible manner.

-C  A cbc checksum is generated in the same manner as described for the -c option but the DES key is generated in the same manner as used for the -E and -D options

-f  Does nothing - allowed for compatibility with SunOS des(1) command.

-s  Does nothing - allowed for compatibility with SunOS des(1) command.

-k key
    Use the encryption key specified.

-h  The key is assumed to be a 16 character hexadecimal number. If the -3 option is used the key is assumed to be a 32 character hexadecimal number.

-u  This flag is used to read and write uuencoded files. If decrypting, the input file is assumed to contain uuencoded, DES encrypted data. If encrypting, the characters following the -u are used as the name of the uuencoded file to embed in the begin line of the uuencoded output. If there is no name specified after the -u, the name text.des will be embedded in the header.

SEE ALSO
ps (1) des_crypt(3)

BUGS

The problem with using the -e option is the short key length. It would be better to use a real 56-bit key rather than an ASCII-based 56-bit pattern. Knowing that the key was derived from ASCII radically reduces the time necessary for a brute-force cryptographic attack. My attempt to remove this problem is to add an alternative text-key to DES-key function. This alternative function (accessed via -E, -D, -S and -3 ) uses DES to help generate the key.

Be carefully when using the -u option. Doing des -ud <filename> will not decrypt filename (the -u option will gobble the d option).

The VMS operating system operates in a world where files are always a multiple of 512 bytes. This causes problems when encrypted data is send from unix to VMS since a 88 byte file will suddenly be padded with 424 null bytes. To get around this problem, use the -u option to uuencode the data before it is send to the VMS system.

AUTHOR

Eric Young (eay@mincom.oz.au or eay@psych.psy.uq.oz.au)