[139538] in cryptography@c2.net mail archive
Re: AES HDD encryption was XOR
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (William Allen Simpson)
Mon Dec 8 15:55:52 2008
Date: Mon, 08 Dec 2008 12:40:24 -0500
From: William Allen Simpson <william.allen.simpson@gmail.com>
To: cryptography@metzdowd.com
In-Reply-To: <015DFAEC-38ED-422A-8E08-B26DB8A3C751@lrw.com>
Jerry Leichter wrote:
> ...
> accurately states that AES-128 is thought to be secure within the state
> of current and expected cryptographic knowledge, it propagates the meme
> of the "short key length of only 128 bits". A key length of 128 bits is
> beyond any conceivable brute force attack - in and of itself the only
> kind of attack for which key length, as such, has any meaning. But, as
> always, "bigger *must* be better" - which just raises costs when it
> leads people to use AES-256, but all too often opens the door for the
> many snake-oil "super-secure" cipher systems using thousands of key bits.
>
Oh, say it ain't so! ;-)
In the NBC TV episode of /Chuck/ a couple of weeks ago, the NSA cracked
"a 512-bit AES cipher" on a flash drive "trying every possible key".
"Could be hours, could be days." (Only minutes in TV land.)
http://www.nbc.com/Chuck/video/episodes/#vid=838461
(Chuck Versus The Fat Lady, 4th segment, at 26:19)
It's no wonder that folks are deluded, pop culture reinforces this.
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