🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <1338@navajo.STANFORD.EDU>, les@navajo.STANFORD.EDU (Lester Earnest) writes:
> The easiest way to compromise an exclusive-or cryptographic scheme with
> courier-distributed key is to bribe the courier and make a copy.  This
> cryptographic scheme is also very inefficient in that you have to
> transmit the same amount of data via courier as you do over the
> communication link.
> 

Now here's an interesting point.  The exact same amount of information has to
be transmitted as "key" information as will be transmitted as data.  Now since
the data is transmitted over an insecure channel, then the key data is the
valuable information.  So why not just use the secure courier for sending the
actual data?  I mean, if the courier system can be broken to get the key, the
data is suddenly rendered readable by anybody who cares.  So what is the
point of encryption at all in this case?

-- 
Steve Tate			UUCP: ..!{ihnp4,decvax}!duke!srt
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