Long Key Performance

[Timo Schulz]

On Fri Apr 19 2002; 11:07, Anonymous wrote:

> 1.5. The scare message propagates to problems elsewhere.  For example,
> WinPT does not generate 4096 bit keys.  Users have to go find gpg and
> do it directly.  I am guessing this is due to the WinPT author not
> wanting to deal with the interaction or maybe just following the gpg
> example.

FYI, WinPT does not use GPG interactive, it uses the unattended
key generation feature. In this mode you can generate keys in any
size that GPG supports (currently <= 4096 bits).

I don't want to start a flame war about the key size but for me
2048 was a good choice for the maximum key size. The attacker tries
the weakest point and that is definitely not the key size. It should
be much easier to guess the password or to steal it. A large key is only
one step for a secure communication. But of course this is my personal
opinion and if somebody disagree I will accept it.


        Timo