Re: [PLUG] Keys: SSH, PGP, etc...

[Leonard Rosenthol <leonardr@lazerware.com>]

At 03:37 PM 9/24/2001 -0400, Paul wrote:
> DES -- Data Encryption Standard. A weak, eight character, UNIX password
> algorithm. I think it's used for other things, too.

        DES is actually not a bad algorithm, and does NOT have an "8 
character limit" on the passphrase (key lenght), though normally people 
today tend to use 3DES, which means you run the data through DES 3 times in 
different ways.


> RSA -- I don't know what RSA stands for. I know it as another algorithm for
> making keys.

        Rivest, Shamir and Adelman.  Ron Rivest, Adi Shamir and Len 
Adelman were the guys who invented the algorithm and founded the company - 
and happen to be a bunch of nice folk too...

        RSA actually has a number of patents and trade secrets related to 
cryptography, though the most notable are RC4 and their public key stuff.


Leonard


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