From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Wed May 20 01:11:00 2009 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id BE79D106566C for ; Wed, 20 May 2009 01:11:00 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from kelly.terry.jones@gmail.com) Received: from qw-out-2122.google.com (qw-out-2122.google.com [74.125.92.27]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 78B198FC20 for ; Wed, 20 May 2009 01:11:00 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from kelly.terry.jones@gmail.com) Received: by qw-out-2122.google.com with SMTP id 3so97509qwe.7 for ; Tue, 19 May 2009 18:10:59 -0700 (PDT) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=gmail.com; s=gamma; h=domainkey-signature:mime-version:received:date:message-id:subject :from:to:content-type:content-transfer-encoding; bh=udHIC2zfZs7hg4V+i1WhfJwdTdP2TFc0z5QJeM/MrqI=; b=PFAz4GhGEYobjU0bNUl6hidX+QzJ45All5o7z/nqZipHtfGcUmhS1mDavlLsSujF7Z fZXFXExBMwJUv9ir3Ff121tmy1fFgvEmc2dJSmBqDKhhY9GdnjZLItrI93hMYiTzRVOJ TWPXOa80rf4H04lfWjl/1MafStx70sEYNwoSs= DomainKey-Signature: a=rsa-sha1; c=nofws; d=gmail.com; s=gamma; h=mime-version:date:message-id:subject:from:to:content-type :content-transfer-encoding; b=GvOucalJ+GkYdF+UbKbwgC8W+65WrgtDwq9CrHRKvKPO2ZHsgIidiRbAybWcgQGnwU Bk7tGFEIZPVR3VIKpmaGYFR7WoVwIXtnhZvbkG/HQZiY26BfWc2gfS5xAPg1AvJSsAUS KewjaOq5Ym9mL10ZggK5Oe8ArpK/rcFQ5jNXg= MIME-Version: 1.0 Received: by 10.229.100.20 with SMTP id w20mr237448qcn.24.1242781859674; Tue, 19 May 2009 18:10:59 -0700 (PDT) Date: Tue, 19 May 2009 18:10:59 -0700 Message-ID: <26face530905191810m2405b09av453f43049ed83345@mail.gmail.com> From: Kelly Jones To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Subject: Blowfish encryption key length X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Wed, 20 May 2009 01:11:01 -0000 I want to use a random Blowfish key to encrypt files, so I did this: dd if=/dev/random of=mykey.bf count=100 bs=100 to create a 10K byte mykey.bf file. I can now encrypt foo.txt by doing: openssl enc -bf -pass file:mykey.bf -in foo.txt > foo.txt.encrypted However, "man enc" says "Blowfish and RC5 algorithms use a 128 bit key." Does this mean mykey.bf could've been just 16 bytes (128 bits) long? Or am I misunderstanding the word "key" here? -- We're just a Bunch Of Regular Guys, a collective group that's trying to understand and assimilate technology. We feel that resistance to new ideas and technology is unwise and ultimately futile.