Security Innovation Makes NTRUEncrypt Patent-Free   

WILMINGTON, Mass., March 28, 2017 -- Security Innovation’s embedded security division, OnBoard Security, a leader in automotive, embedded, and IoT cyber security, announced it is placing all of its NTRUEncrypt patents in the public domain, so that they may be freely used without license or any other restriction.  In addition, the company announced that it is encouraging offers to purchase the patent portfolio for its popular quantum-resistant signing algorithm, pqNTRUsign.

“We are making the NTRUEncrypt patents available under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal License. By eliminating NTRUEncrypt patent hurdles, the industry can speed the adoption of quantum-resistant encryption, ensuring that the Internet remains secure long after the emergence of quantum computers,” explained Peter Samson, President of OnBoard Security.  “Our remaining pqNTRUsign patents represent a significant breakthrough in maintaining the long-term integrity of data.  To maximize its potential, we are looking for a global partner to help accelerate worldwide adoption.”

NTRUEncrypt is a candidate for quantum-resistant cryptography standards by NIST, ETSI and other global standards bodies that are evaluating the defenses against the approaching quantum computing threat.  IEEE 1363.1 and X9.98 financial services standards have already published post-quantum standards with NTRUEncrypt. 

The NTRU “trapdoor” – NTRUEncrypt cryptosystem’s core hard mathematical problem– has been a fertile source of inspiration to other cryptographers with uses ranging from some fully homomorphic encryption, to Stehle and Steinfeld’s “provably secure” NTRUEncrypt variants, to the European PQCrypto project’s recent “NTRU Prime,” and even including promising but not yet secure cryptographic constructions such as multilinear maps.  By releasing the patents, OnBoard Security clarifies that future use of the NTRU trapdoor in encryption schemes is unencumbered and seeks to encourage future research in quantum-safe, highly efficient cryptography based on this hard problem.

pqNTRUsign is a digital signature scheme that allows organizations to sign software, firmware and documents, knowing they will remain secure and trusted after the quantum computing age.  By signing critical documents with pqNTRUsign today, companies can be sure that competitors, governments or malicious attackers are not storing the sensitive information for decryption once quantum computers arrive. 

Security Innovation released the following patents: 

• Public key cryptosystem method and apparatus US Patent # 6,081,597
• Ring-based public key cryptosystem method US Patent # 6,298,137
• Secure user identification based on ring homomorphisms US Patent # 6,959,085
• Speed enhanced cryptographic method and apparatus US Patent # 7,031,468

The public domain NTRUEncrypt code is available from https://github.com/NTRUOpenSourceProject/NTRUEncrypt/releases/tag/Public-domain.  The pqNTRUsign code is available under the GPL and can be obtained from https://github.com/NTRUOpenSourceProject/NTRUMLS.

The Creative Commons CC0 1.0 License is a widely-used license intended to be a ‘public domain dedication,’ i.e. a waiver of all rights including those of attribution. It is endorsed by Opendefinition.org, a project of Open Knowledge International. The human-readable summary can be found at https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/ and the full legal code is available from https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/legalcode.

About NTRU
NTRU is a lattice-based public key cryptosystem and the most thoroughly researched and widely implemented alternative to RSA and ECC. It supports encryption, decryption, and signing. Not only faster and smaller than RSA and ECC, NTRU is the leading choice for organizations recognizing the need to protect themselves against the threat of Quantum Computing attacks. pqNTRUsign is the companion signature algorithm to NTRUEncrypt and is the most efficient post-quantum signing solution available. 

About OnBoard Security

OnBoard Security, the Embedded Security Divison of Security Innovation, was created to help automotive and IoT organizations stay ahead of the curve through superior cybersecurity.  In February, Security Innovation announced its intention to spin off OnBoard Security as an independent company in the next few months. 

For over 10 years, the world-renowned experts at OnBoard Security have been pioneering technologies that protect the Internet of Things, now and for the future.  We address three significant challenges; ensuring the security and privacy of connected vehicles, making hardware roots of trust easy to use, and avoiding the existential threat from quantum computers to the integrity of the internet.

Headquartered in Wilmington, MA, we are best known for the award-winning Aerolink® V2X libraries that are the de facto standard for connected vehicle security and privacy; our NTRU algorithm which is the most tested and trusted quantum-resistant cryptosystem; and our TSS 2.0 & 1.2 middleware that simplifies implementation of Trusted Platform Modules.  

For more information, visit: www.onboardsecurity.com

Contact:
Gene Carter
OnBoard Security
+1.978.905.6796
[email protected]