Firefly

For other uses, see Firefly (disambiguation)}}}.

FIREFLY is an NSA key distribution protocol based on public key cryptography. It was apparently first used with the STU-III secure telephone and is credited with that product's success. FIREFLY keys are distributed by NSA's Electronic Key Distribution System EKMS.

FIREFLY is said to be based on the key exchange protocol Photuris, Latin for Firefly. It is referenced in RFC 2522 - Photuris: Session-Key Management Protocol -

[Firefly]  "Photuris" is the Latin name for the firefly.  "Firefly"
is in turn the name for the USA National Security
Administration's (classified) key exchange protocol for
the STU-III secure telephone.  Informed speculation has
it that Firefly is based on very similar design
principles.

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