Question about key size (Was: [ale] ALE PGP Keysigning PartyInstructions)

[Jeff Hubbs]

I would think that this $1B estimate assumes that you're starting from
nothing; a government intending to do such a thing would already have at
least some of the ground covered.  Also, I'm fairly sure that it
wouldn't take $1B PER KEY.

-Jeff

On Tue, 2003-01-14 at 13:42, Jason Day wrote:
> On Tue, Jan 14, 2003 at 09:04:27AM -0700, Chris Ricker wrote:
> > Do you encrypt anything with that 1024-bit key that's worth $1 billion to 
> > someone to crack? If not, don't worry about it yet.
> 
> Well no, but that's not the point.  If 1024-bit keys can in fact be
> brute-forced with $1B, then it's safe to assume that the US government,
> at the very least, can read any message encrypted with a 1024-bit key.
> 
> I'm not bringing this up because I have something to hide, but because I
> see little point in encrypting anything if it can be broken at will by
> anyone with enough money.
> 
> I'm not a crypto or math expert, so I don't know if Berstein is just
> blowing smoke or not.  I also don't know what the ramifications of using
> a larger key are.  Since no one has signed my key yet, but I'm planning
> to attend the keysigning party, *now* is the time to worry about it.
> -- 
> Jason Day                                       jasonday at
> http://jasonday.home.att.net                    worldnet dot att dot net
>  
> "Of course I'm paranoid, everyone is trying to kill me."
>     -- Weyoun-6, Star Trek: Deep Space 9
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