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Sun may evade U.S. ban
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May 19, 1997: 6:26 a.m. ET
Sun will reportedly sell encryption software through a Russian firm
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) -- In an attempt to get around U.S. regulations regarding the export of encryption technology, Sun Microsystems Inc. is reportedly planning to sell data security software internationally through a Russian supplier.
Sun is expected to say Monday that it will sell its software overseas by licensing it to Elvis+Co., a company formed by former Soviet rocket scientists, the Wall Street Journal reported Monday.
The United States has officially banned the export of encryption-related technology out of concerns that it could be used for criminal purposes and the government would not be able to crack such encoding.
An administration official told the Journal that at this time the White House did not have enough information on the deal to comment on it.
Humphrey Polanen, general manager of Sun's network security products group said the company had not talked about its plans with the government.
"This is not being done to subvert export-control laws but to deliver solutions to customers," Polanen told the Journal.
The software will be sold under the name SunScreen SKIP E and uses encryption algorithms including what's known as three-key triple DES and 128-bit ciphers, which are generally acknowledged to be extremely difficult to break.
Current U.S. law states that only cryptography keys of up to 40 bits may be exported. However, a proficient computer hacker can break such technology quickly.
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