| The reliability of
MISTY laid to rest all myths surrounding the strengths of
encryption systems. It marked the dawn of a new age: No longer
would people need to accept cryptosystems merely because a
government or military official authorized its performance.
Users would choose what was clearly demonstrated to be secure,
an encryption system with a very low probability of being
broken. This awareness added to the motivation of the staff
at the Information Security System Development Center who
now had MISTY in their arsenal. However, there was yet another
obstacle that stood in their way - performance records
of cryptosystems.
 At
that time, US businesses that were leading the world with
commercial use of the Internet hesitated to adopt MISTY. “Trust”
was given ultimate priority when selecting a system that was
directly concerned with security. Not one company would adopt
a completely new cryptosystem that had no track record. The
Mitsubishi Electric team had a tough fight on their hands,
against a market that could not shake off this reliance on
track records. But then came a second challenge: The director
instructed them to make MISTY an industry standard.
The next major development came in the winter
of 1999, in London at the 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership
Project) meeting. Members were examining criteria for an international
standard to be used for 3rd-generation mobile phones. Among
the requirements for encryption was a series of stiff conditions.
In order to keep costs down, the processing circuitry was
restricted to no more than 10k gates. Also, performance had
to be faster than the 2Mbps communication speed of the next-generation
mobile phones. At the time, there was no encryption system
that could satisfy these criteria. Except one.
3GPP picked MISTY. And, in the following year,
KASUMI,
a version of MISTY that had been customized for mobile communications,
was officially adopted. In July 2002, the European GSM Association
also adopted KASUMI for mobile communications. ISO and other
bodies that determine international standards unrelated to
mobile phones joined the chorus of praise for MISTY and KASUMI.
Having turned conventional wisdom on its head, MISTY had finally
become an industry standard. This marked the start of a new
age, signaling the important role encryption systems must
play for society’s security infrastructure.
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