2048 or 4096 for new keys? aka defaults vs. Debian

[Johan Wevers]

On 27-10-2013 18:36, Robert J. Hansen wrote:

> Consumer-grade hardware is a decadent Garden of Eden.  However, the tiny
> little processor that monitors chemical levels at your local water
> treatment plant is going to be embarrassingly low-powered.

That's fine, but I doubt I'll ever email such a system. Keys used for
such systems, e.g. to sign firmware updates, will be created
specifically for that purpose and their parameters can be chosen to work
with such systems. I don't need to care wether my email key would work
fluently on such a system or not. Cryptocards will probably aso have
little processing capacity but they are usually not used for bulk
processing.

> The world of computer security is a lot larger than Bruce Schneier.

Of course, but he is someone who vents his opinions for a large public.
The non-crypto expert will probably not read (and understand) the
research papers from Adi Shamir.

But it's always nice to understand why certain things are advised.
Accepting authority blindly is bad security practice.

-- 
ir. J.C.A. Wevers
PGP/GPG public keys at http://www.xs4all.nl/~johanw/pgpkeys.html