[ale] SSH KEy sizes

[matty91 at bellsouth.net]

On Wed, 15 Oct 2003, Christopher Fowler wrote:

>
>  From key-gen(1)
>
>      -b bits
>              Specifies the number of bits in the key to create.  Minimum is
>              512 bits.  Generally 1024 bits is considered sufficient, and key
>              sizes above that no longer improve security but make things
>              slower.  The default is 1024 bits.
>
>
> I've dealt with some companies in the past that have
> claimed that bigger keys = better security.  Based on the
> man page entry that is not so.  Does a key size of 2048 really matter
> vs one of 1024?

Well, with present day technology, a 1024-bit key is probably more than
sufficient. I use 2048-bit keys to protect myself against future theory
and technology findings. If someone wants to know your key, and it is
protected with a symmetric key algorithm, there are better ways than brute
forcing to get it.

>
> Thanks,
> Chris
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Ryan Matteson - UNIX Administrator | GPG ID: 92D5DFFF
Public Key: http://www.daemons.net/~matty/public_key.txt
Fingerprint = 4BEC 6145 30A6 BCE6 5602 FF11 4954 165D 92D5 DFFF