PGP 6 can't handle ElGamel-only keys

L. Sassaman rabbi@quickie.net
Mon, 17 Jul 2000 11:27:42 -0700 (PDT)


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PGP Has never, and never will, support ElGamal signing keys. There are too
many known attacks against them, and supporting them would weaken PGP.

Why would you not generate a DSA/ElGamal key instead, if you only intend
to use it for encryption?

On Fri, 14 Jul 2000, Dave Dykstra wrote:


> My corporate security organization generated a 1408 ElGamel-only key with
> gpg to be used only for encryption. We chose that size as a compromise
> between security and performance. Unfortunately, we just discovered that
> PGP 6.53 cannot import it. It can handle a 1408-bit key if it is a
> combined DSA/ElGamel key. I haven't tried other-sized ElGamel-only keys,
> but I suspect that PGP 6 just can't handle them at all; is that a known
> problem?
>
> - Dave Dykstra
>
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