Article View: sci.crypt
Article #2456Real question re DES vs IDEA cipher
From: Michael T. Palmer
Date: Thu, 24 Dec 1992 16:39
Date: Thu, 24 Dec 1992 16:39
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1572 bytes
I just read in the RIPEM FAQ that DES uses a key length that "should be reasonably safe against an opponent smaller than a large corporation or government agency." Ack. I don't get warm fuzzy feelings from this statement. So... What size key does IDEA use? Is the length sufficient to stand up against brute force attacks? I mean, if you can brute force it then why bother encrypting the session key with RSA (as in PGP and RIPEM)? Nobody has to worry about the public key stuff, they can just go right after the plain text. Since I've seen here that IDEA might end up in an update of RIPEM, I was just wondering if it offered more security than DES (in CBC mode). Please, forgo the legal asides concerning the algorithms and respective export or patent laws. I'm just interested in what key sizes the different ciphers use. Thanks. -- Michael T. Palmer, M/S 152, NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton, VA 23681 Voice: 804-864-2044, FAX: 804-864-7793, Email: m.t.palmer@larc.nasa.gov RIPEM Public Key now available -- Consider it an envelope for your e-mail
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Path: arc1-ca.pugleaf.net!sparky!uunet!spool.mu.edu!darwin.sura.net!news.larc.nasa.gov!icat.larc.nasa.gov!palmer From: palmer@icat.larc.nasa.gov (Michael T. Palmer) Newsgroups: sci.crypt Subject: Real question re DES vs IDEA cipher Date: 24 Dec 1992 16:39:29 GMT Organization: NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton, VA USA Lines: 26 Distribution: world Message-ID: <1hcp41INNdi4@rave.larc.nasa.gov> NNTP-Posting-Host: icat.larc.nasa.gov Originator: palmer@icat.larc.nasa.gov