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Date:      Tue, 30 Nov 1999 11:05:04 +0100
From:      Brad Knowles <blk@skynet.be>
To:        Dan Moschuk <dan@FreeBSD.ORG>, Kris Kennaway <kris@hub.freebsd.org>
Cc:        Dan Moschuk <dan@FreeBSD.ORG>, Bruce Evans <bde@zeta.org.au>, Mike Smith <msmith@FreeBSD.ORG>, audit@FreeBSD.ORG, Warner Losh <imp@village.org>
Subject:   Re: cvs commit: src/sys/i386/conf files.i386 src/sys/kern kern_fork.c src/sys/libkern arc4random.c src/sys/sys libkern.h
Message-ID:  <v04205502b46950a9b055@[195.238.21.204]>
In-Reply-To: <19991129153250.A2999@spirit.jaded.net>
References:  <19991129105703.C277@spirit.jaded.net> <Pine.BSF.4.21.9911291103500.51314-100000@hub.freebsd.org> <19991129153250.A2999@spirit.jaded.net>

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At 3:32 PM -0500 1999/11/29, Dan Moschuk wrote:

> Although Yarrow is quite a virgin algorithm as far as cryptographical
> standards go, I do trust the work of two widely respected professional
> cryptographers over that of an amateur.

	While T'so may not be a cryptographer by trade, it is my 
understanding that he has quite a bit of understanding of how crypto 
works (due to his involvement in PGP), and is a rather good 
programmer.

	If you read Schneier's monthly newsletter, you'll note that 
*many* professional cryptographers get a whole lot of crap wrong the 
firs time, and even the empteenth time, because they tend to ignore 
edge conditions or infrastructure attacks that are not aimed at the 
crypto per se.

	It's only once an algorithm has been in wide use for a long time, 
and many many knowledgeable and resourceful people have hammered on 
it as hard as they possibly could, is something typically considered 
to be reasonably secure.  In this respect, I think T'so has a strong 
advantage over Yarrow, in that his stuff has been out there and 
tested in more installations for longer.


	I am not so inclined to simply yank T'so for Yarrow, not without 
a relatively authoritative third party who can look over the 
respective algorithms and code in extreme detail, etc....

-- 
   These are my opinions -- not to be taken as official Skynet policy
  ____________________________________________________________________
|o| Brad Knowles, <blk@skynet.be>            Belgacom Skynet NV/SA |o|
|o| Systems Architect, News & FTP Admin      Rue Col. Bourg, 124   |o|
|o| Phone/Fax: +32-2-706.11.11/12.49         B-1140 Brussels       |o|
|o| http://www.skynet.be                     Belgium               |o|
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  Unix is like a wigwam -- no Gates, no Windows, and an Apache inside.
   Unix is very user-friendly.  It's just picky who its friends are.


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