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Re: Silly Shrinkwrapped Encryption
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In <v0311070eb0d8be53e6a8@[207.94.249.133]>, on 01/07/98
at 12:10 AM, Bill Frantz <[email protected]> said:
>At 11:49 AM -0800 1/6/98, Eric Cordian wrote:
>>I managed to find a document entitled "Security in Lotus Notes and the
>>Internet" on the Web.
>>
>>It describes the weakening procedure as follows.
>>
>> "No matter which version of Notes you are using, encryption uses the
>> full 64-bit key size. However, the International edition takes 24 bits
>> of the key and encrypts it using an RSA public key for which the US
>> National Security Agency holds the matching private key. This
>> encrypted portion of the key is then sent with each message as an
>> additional field, the workfactor reduction field. The net result of
>> this is that an illegitimate hacker has to tackle 64-bit encryption,
>> which is at or beyond the practical limit for current decryption
>> technology and hardware. The US government, on the other hand, only
>> has to break a 40-bit key space, which is much easier (2 to the power
>> of 24 times easier, to be precise)."
>It seems to me that if you step on the correct part of the message, you
>zap the encrypted 24 bits, and cut NSA out of the loop. Of course the
>receiver could notice and refuse to decrypt, which would require some
>software hacking to defeat, but that is certainly doable.
Wouldn't it be much better just to not use the crap?!?
Why should we give our money to a company that has shown that they will
sell us out at the first chance of making a buck doing so??
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William H. Geiger III http://users.invweb.net/~whgiii
Geiger Consulting Cooking With Warp 4.0
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PGP & MR/2 the only way for secure e-mail.
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