Choice of Algorithm

[Atom Smasher]

On Fri, 27 May 2005, Erpo wrote:

> On Thu, 2005-05-26 at 20:12 +0200, Youssef Aoun wrote:
>> Since ElGamal is able to make signatures and encryption... why do we 
>> have other alternatives? Does it help to have multiple key??
>
> It helps to have multiple algorithms in that there is a backup if one of 
> them is broken. ElGamal isn't used for signing because DSA is The 
> Standard.
====================

elgamal isn't used because the implementation was broken. as far as DSA 
being "The Standard" i don't think it's any more standard than RSA, 
although it is more common.

the common and widespread use of DSA instead of RSA for signatures seems 
to be a historical artifact of RSAs patent which, until it expired, forced 
open source crypto applications to use something else.


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