Date: 30 Aug 2002 14:35:29 -0400 From: "Perry E. Metzger" <perry@piermont.com> To: Michael W Mitton <mmitton@hmcon.com> Cc: freebsd-security@FreeBSD.ORG, tech-security@netbsd.org, misc@openbsd.org Subject: Re: 1024 bit key considered insecure (sshd) Message-ID: <87lm6onqj2.fsf@snark.piermont.com> In-Reply-To: <1030649841.18234.4.camel@mmitton.hmcon.com> References: <20020828200748.90964.qmail@mail.com> <3D6D3953.6090005@mukappabeta.de> <20020828224330.GE249@localhost> <87k7mamc2s.fsf@snark.piermont.com> <20020829153006.GB26145@nevermind.kiev.ua> <20020829121117.B20048@rainmaker.dreamwvr.ca> <1030649841.18234.4.camel@mmitton.hmcon.com>
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Michael W Mitton <mmitton@hmcon.com> writes: > My data may not be worth a billion dollars, but I can be fairly certain > that I am part of a group ( a rather _large_ group ) whose combined > information is worth that. The combination is not of much importance because the combination doesn't share a single key. A machine can only crack so many keys per unit time. If you build a device that costs you a billion dollars and can only crack one key every six months, you are going to to be very careful about which key you choose to crack because each key costs you hundreds of millions in amortized cost to crack. > Beside, I'm sure the federal government ( any federal government ) > wouldn't blink an eye at 1 billion dollars if they could read everyones > email. ;) Again, at best this offers you the THEORETICAL possibility of reading any particular individual's mail. You still have to spend huge resources on cracking that one key, assuming that this is even possible. (The jury is still out on that.) There is a distinction between saying that one can crack ANYONE'S key and saying you can crack EVERYONE'S key. One implies being able to break a few if you really really want to, the other implies being able to break all cheaply and quickly. I would like to repeat that using longer key lengths is not necessarily stupid -- just not something to be contemplated as an imminent emergency. Certainly the jury is still out on just how practical factoring 1024 bit numbers is using the latest algorithms and hardware acceleration. -- Perry E. Metzger perry@piermont.com -- "Ask not what your country can force other people to do for you..." To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-security" in the body of the message
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