Linux crypto killer apllication

[Faramir]

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1

Robert J. Hansen escribió:
>> Exactly what question am I begging?
> 
> The reasonableness of the choice to protect a secret for the rest of
> one's life.

  I remember some well known figure died, and left some information to
be disclosed a lot of years latter... I am not sure, but I think she was
Jackeline Kennedy... and it was enough time to be sure her sons would be
dead by that time.

   Ok, it is not common, but it can happen...

> If we're able to ever break large (>2kbit) RSA keys, it will only be
> possible by either (a) advances in computational technology so vast they
> are indistinguishable from magic, or (b) advances in mathematics so vast
> they are indistinguishable from magic.
> 
> Look at Ron Rivest's original (1970s) estimates for how long it would
> take to break RSA512.  Just thirty years later, those estimates were
> overtaken by reality and technologies that in the 1970s would have been
> considered magical.

  I don't get if you are saying Ron Rivest was optimistic, or if you are
saying it would take less time than he calculated...

>> Modern computers can handle RSA 16,384 without too much difficulty
> 
> My cellphone is a modern computer, and it disagrees with you.  I imagine
> the time to verify would be measured in minutes, not instants.

  Come on, there is a big difference between a cellphone and a desktop
computer, even if they were made the same year...

> I also often have to take my cellphone onto 2.5G networks where the
> total data rate is about 10kb/sec.  A 16kbit key would thus add
> substantially to the delay in receiving my email.

  Sure, but, as I said, it is not the same a desktop modern computer,
with broadband, and a cellphone... and nobody have said the larger keys
would be for daily use... in fact, they didn't even say they would use
it for email encryption... I figure when they intend to protect
something for 100 years, they would encrypt the file and store it
somewhere... and if it is so valuable, probably it should be in a place
safer than a computer...

> You cannot keep data secret forever.  Anyone who is storing secret data
> needs to have disclosure plans -- what to do when, not if, those secrets
> come to light.

  By the way, it would be easier to steal the protected file, and steal
the key.. have you heard about "burundanga"?

  Or maybe, it would be a good idea to protect the file with the
strongest protection available, then divide it with some variant of
Shamir's secret-sharing scheme, and place each part in a different bank
vault...

  I think if someboy want's to use a hyper long key... it is his/her
problem, as long I am not forced to do it too...

  By the way, I got a message from the starter of this subject (I mean,
the original one, not the long keys thing), and her idea is it would be
easier to make people get interested in cryptographic applications if
there were one GUI capable to concentrate the different tools, or maybe
one GUI for each one, but all with its GUI... (by the way, she is happy
with command line apps... her idea is aimed to noobs like me).
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v1.4.9 (MingW32)
Comment: Using GnuPG with Mozilla - http://enigmail.mozdev.org

iQEcBAEBAgAGBQJILHRkAAoJEIISGkVDGUEOQasIAIGVlFS6m7N2ZbawwlcXXMHZ
mKim31P9QzWXbuev+WSqC64pG6vjwp+wOOCKrRSGsQ/tTLGzNT8F7mcYXVeVQUtl
a9qNcVD65wl88LoelqFZJ4Aqu7oV5emrMk0lXtq1I5cVc9CeD0lGSf0i6BDudzOu
pccfdMb91GDvpOHIZn2ROUrRxJ0i9GtAxCwzFLTNSeGsoW1Jl1wKqHUmOc8JvKhY
qTVAxeTVOdXrN/YpaHsPr9sTZnKo7z0lGK0l2/y6VlQt5RrmybsSeKqDXqOQHIxy
6l+u+gnlhs3sALl4/9NEqgachAoNGp2ZjvGpOJAPKbddiV3fC4k8rO87dOfIogI=
=bqic
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----