Gentoo Archives: gentoo-server

From: Stuart Stegall <stuart@×××××××××××××.com>
To: gentoo-server@l.g.o
Subject: RE: [gentoo-server] easy explanation of the strength of 3DES (and perhaps also IDEA)?
Date: Wed, 27 Oct 2004 04:14:22
Message-Id: 000701c4bbdb$6ee99410$6800a8c0@hellboy1
In Reply to: Re: [gentoo-server] easy explanation of the strength of 3DES (and perhaps also IDEA)? by Martin Hajduch
1 Unfortunately, both algorithms are subject to quantum decryption. (Just
2 do a little search on quantum decryption.)
3
4 > -----Original Message-----
5 > From: Martin Hajduch [mailto:martin.hajduch@×××××××××××.com]
6 > Sent: Tuesday, October 26, 2004 10:40 PM
7 > To: gentoo-server@l.g.o
8 > Subject: Re: [gentoo-server] easy explanation of the strength
9 > of 3DES (and perhaps also IDEA)?
10 >
11 >
12 > hi,
13 >
14 > > easy explanation of cipher strengths so that I could answer
15 > questions
16 > > like 'how strong 3DES is' to novice users. Most results I
17 > could find
18 > > are too technical / mathematical. I want very simple
19 > explanation like
20 > > this:
21 > >
22 > > 128 bit IDEA is very strong cipher. Normally, take a piece of
23 > > encrypted
24 >
25 > 3DES and IDEA are very strong ciphers
26 > unless you are a terrorist, or you have discovered a secret
27 > of perpetum
28 > mobile (or at least cheap way of doing
29 > hydrogen fusion on a mass scale), noone is going to invest the money
30 > required to break your 3DES/IDEA
31 > encryption keys
32 >
33 > on the tech side, 3DES/IDEA are symmetric ciphers, usually
34 > accompanied
35 > by asymmetric ciphers responsible for
36 > exchange of encryption keys (for 3DES/IDEA) - yet another
37 > cipher to take
38 > into considerations
39 > there are some hardware devices able to (tremendously) speed
40 > up breaking
41 > of asymmetric ciphers like RSA/DSA,
42 > so this can be a shortcut to get your message decrypted
43 > (and of course, don't forget known plaintext attacks - or even key
44 > loggers for that matter), if your users are using
45 > windows, they have much much bigger problem there and should not be
46 > concerned by cryptographic strength of
47 > 3DES/IDEA (even ROT13 can be more secure then windows on your desktop)
48 >
49 > > Another question: technically, how does IDEA compare to
50 > 3DES on cipher
51 > > strength and CPU usage? Is 3DES more safer than IDEA and
52 > cost more CPU
53 > > time?
54 >
55 > both are enough secure ciphers with respect to current state of
56 > cryptanalysis
57 > if you want to develop your own app, you may prefer 3DES
58 > because IDEA is
59 > patented (AFAIK)
60 > on the other side, IDEA is faster (current implementation of IDEA are
61 > approx twice as fast as DES implementations)
62 >
63 > at the end of the day, it is not important for users, they are
64 > threatening their own security by clicking on every .exe
65 > attachment they get but of course, no user wants to hear that
66 > HE is the weak link in the chain
67 >
68 > regards,
69 > martin
70 >
71 >

Replies

Subject Author
Re: [gentoo-server] easy explanation of the strength of 3DES (and perhaps also IDEA)? Martin Hajduch <martin.hajduch@×××××××××××.com>