Re: Lotus Notes

[David Mazieres <dm@amsterdam.lcs.mit.edu>]

> Tim May had it exactly right in his post entitled "Silver Linings
> and Monkey Wrenches" (thanks Tim).  The only thing I can add is that
> forcing them to attack a 40 bit key is better than giving them the
> whole key thru some LEAF scheme ala Clipper.

Your point may be valid, but who is attacking a 40 bit key?  Is
cracking 40 out of 64 bits of a 64-bit RC4 key as hard as cracking a
40 bit key, or does knowing a significant portion of the key make the
search considerably easier than brute force?  I've never heard anyone
make an assertion either way, except that some people seem to assume a
the difficulties are the same.

Thanks,
David