Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC) is a newer approach to public cryptography. EC algorithms were introduced in NSA Suite B. Cisco uses the broad term Next Generation Encryption (NGE) for Suite B. Why are elliptic curve keys and such certificates important? As the use of elliptic curve keys are more efficient than RSA keys, it is expected that elliptic keys will gain popularity. (However, there are some intentions of replacing Suite B with an even newer CNSA Suite which contains even stronger ECDH and ECDSA algorithms.) EC algorithms are capable of providing the same level of cryptographic strength using shorter key length than RSA keys.
Elliptic curve TLS ciphers and certificates are supported from
- ASA version 9.4(1)
- Windows 7
- Windows 2008 Server