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Date:      Mon, 14 Aug 2000 16:00:41 +0200 (CEST)
From:      Marc van Woerkom <marc.vanwoerkom@science-factory.com>
To:        ohartman@ipamzlx.physik.uni-mainz.de
Cc:        freebsd-questions@freebsd.org
Subject:   Re: MD5 or DES?
Message-ID:  <20000814140041.5354D2002@nil.science-factory.com>
In-Reply-To:  <Pine.BSF.4.10.10008141406540.7635-100000@ipamzlx.physik.uni-mainz.de> (ohartman@ipamzlx.physik.uni-mainz.de)
References:   <Pine.BSF.4.10.10008141406540.7635-100000@ipamzlx.physik.uni-mainz.de>

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> Can anybody tell me what the reasons are to use DES instaed of MD5? 

Backward compatibility.
And MD5 was probably choosen instead of Tripel DES with appropriate
key length due to export restrictions.


> encrypting related library used by other services? Isn't DES being compromised
> by brute force mechanisms? How secure is it?

You can brute force anything, if you have enough time and fast enough
equipment :-)

I would suggest this recent statement by Bruce Schneier on DES:

    http://www.counterpane.com/crypto-gram-0006.html#DES

The algorithm is still considered safe, what has changed during the
years is the key length necessary to keep ahead of the hardware.
That key lenght obviously has to be more than 56 bits today.

Regards,
Marc


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