secunet secures "Made in Germany" elliptic curves in international standards

Essen, Germany – secunet Security Networks AG, in collaboration with the German Federal Office for Information Security (BSI), has successfully ensured that new "Brainpool" elliptic curves, developed by the German ECC Brainpool working group, can now be incorporated into international security standards. This update allows for the use of these transparently generated curves in widely adopted encryption protocols such as TLS (Transport Layer Security) and IPSec (Internet Protocol Security).

The "Brainpool curves," derived from fundamental mathematical constants like pi and Euler's number e, offer a high degree of transparency. This contrasts with earlier curves standardized by the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), whose generation process had faced criticism and concerns regarding potential backdoors. The adoption of standardized parameters, like Brainpool, simplifies interoperability between different security products.

Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC) is a prominent class of asymmetric cryptosystems valued for its ability to provide high security with significantly shorter keys compared to older methods like RSA. This efficiency is particularly beneficial for devices with limited computational power, such as mobile phones and embedded systems.

These German-developed curves are already integrated into German identity cards and passports, as well as secunet's own SINA encryption devices. Their expanded use in protocols like TLS and IPSec is expected to enhance security for critical infrastructures, including smart grids and healthcare systems. secunet actively supported this standardization process within the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) on behalf of the BSI.