[108118] in Cypherpunks
Re: CDR: Nasty rumor?
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Tom Vogt)
Fri Feb 5 04:05:40 1999
Date: Fri, 05 Feb 1999 09:51:56 +0100
From: Tom Vogt <tv@wlwonline.de>
To: scoops <scoops@quiknet.com>
CC: cypherpunks@einstein.ssz.com
Reply-To: Tom Vogt <tv@wlwonline.de>
scoops wrote:
>
> I just received a call from a paranoid associate who reported that he had
> just gotten off the phone with a spook at NSA. He reported that NSA has
> pretty much got encryption licked and that it can access any key. I
> assured him it was impossible. Nevertheless, is there a any truth at all
> to the claim or is it just wishful thinking on NSA's part or distorted
> hearsay? Looking at the math involved, I don't see how it's possible
> unless it involves key capturing techniques all of us are aware of. Comments?
nsa has had a policy to stay ahead of "current technology" by 5 to 10
years for pretty much all it's life. that means they can easily crack
what is possible to crack, say using distributed.net, today with a
portion of the effort.
which gives you reason to not use 40-bit keys any longer, but it's far
from the magic the paranoid talk about.
