[Discuss] Good and Bad Crypto

[Edward Ned Harvey (blu)]

> From: discuss-bounces+blu=nedharvey.com at blu.org [mailto:discuss-
> bounces+blu=nedharvey.com at blu.org] On Behalf Of Jerry Feldman
> 
> that nearly any primate could break it.  We could have used DES because
> we did use DES for part of the project. But, anyone who knows what they
> are doing certainly would use a standard library implementation.

Even DES isn't secure these days.  56 bit key, even if DES had no weaknesses, would be crackable by brute force with a laptop in a reasonable amount of time (hours? days? weeks?).  But DES also has some weaknesses that make its cryptographic strength closer to 37 bits.  If you know how to attack DES intelligently, this is extremely doable.

3DES is literally just 3 rounds of DES, with 3 different keys, bringing the total key material up to 168 bits and cryptographic strength around 112.  Which is generally still considered to be strong enough for nearly all purposes.

How many years ago did you see the lower life form rolling his/her own crypto like an idiot?  I will actually be shocked if it's anytime within the last decade.  Unless it was just an archaic system put in place over a decade ago and still in operation today.