Australian Gov't Offers $560k Cryptographic Protocol For Free

mask.of.sanity writes "Australia's national welfare agency will release its 'unbreakable' AU$560,000 smart card identification protocol for free. The government agency wants other departments and commercial businesses to adopt the Protocol for Lightweight Authentication of ID (PLAID), which withstood three years of design and testing by Australian and American security agencies. The agency has one of Australia's most advanced physical and logical converged security systems: staff can access doors and computers with a single centrally-managed identity card, and user identities can be automatically updated as employees leave, are recruited or move to new departments. PLAID, which will be available soon, is to be used in the agency's incoming fleet of contact-less smartcards that are currently under trial by staff. It will replace existing identity cards that operate on PKI encryption."

Re:Surprisingly sedate acronym

[Sockatume]

(I'm not saying that the encryption is sinister, just that after so many contrived fist-pumping acronyms in the past decade, it's creepy.)

So when it gets replaced

[courtjester801]

Can it be referred to as the Former Lightweight Authentication of ID, or FLACID?

PLACID

[ajlitt]

That's a much better acronym than the originally proposed Protocol for Automated National Identification and Control.

Re:So when it gets replaced

[tychovi]

I knew I should've taken the blue pill...

Re:PLACID

[Java Pimp]

That's a much better acronym than the originally proposed Protocol for Automated National Identification and Control.

Or the lesser known Protocol for Enhanced Network and Internet Security.

What unbreakble? Fah!

[140Mandak262Jamuna]

I am sure it will blend.

Surviving design...

[knifeyspooney]

...which withstood three years of design and testing by Australian and American security agencies

Anything that withstands three years of attempted government design must be robust indeed.

Re:contactless smart cards are the way to go

[Anonymous Coward]

"To revoke privileges to your lost card, please validate your identity by presenting your smart card"

Spaceballs

[GordonCopestake]

Dark Helmet: Yes, we're gonna have to go right to ludicrous speed... Lonestar: It's Spaceball 1. Barf: They've gone to plaid! ...

It is the fastest protocol

[Anonymous Coward]

While some crypto protocols are capable of ludicrous speed, this protocol can go plaid.

Getting PLAID

[sakonofie]

I'm just waiting for the advertisement that says:

I can't wait to get PLAID by the Australian government.

Re:Surprisingly sedate acronym

[Sockatume]

Jingosim? Damn it.

Re:PLACID

[Red Flayer]

But any of us with good fashion sense would prefer the Protocol for Authenticating Identification Systems with Latent Encryption Yobs over the original PLAID anyway.

Re:PLACID

[StikyPad]

Nobody Asked Me Before Labeling the Authentication!