From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Thu Nov 15 16:45:34 2007 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 6F9A316A418 for ; Thu, 15 Nov 2007 16:45:34 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from aryeh.friedman@gmail.com) Received: from wr-out-0506.google.com (wr-out-0506.google.com [64.233.184.229]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id AB35213C47E for ; Thu, 15 Nov 2007 16:45:33 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from aryeh.friedman@gmail.com) Received: by wr-out-0506.google.com with SMTP id 70so523825wra for ; Thu, 15 Nov 2007 08:45:25 -0800 (PST) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=gmail.com; s=beta; h=domainkey-signature:received:received:message-id:date:from:user-agent:mime-version:to:cc:subject:references:in-reply-to:x-enigmail-version:content-type:content-transfer-encoding; bh=9hbQI2NwOa60gViEPTs+QS/G9Beso7r7LYr2FTXbrEo=; b=ih2jees4buVAxBCq5oosqAZZVcH8oJmBBJAwdkEKc/QAJ2jVQaIbJtKRRAOWA6Gm9P5QhbzLC9ADHqW2ie/KioQSa/Ei5WxxKMrFPWD9Nwj1snITSvSyaXzZsRrO1alHJVrf1UiDS0FUvcBQTcwOXIn7Cp4bVr4LZbGZ5eIsoUk= DomainKey-Signature: a=rsa-sha1; c=nofws; d=gmail.com; s=beta; h=received:message-id:date:from:user-agent:mime-version:to:cc:subject:references:in-reply-to:x-enigmail-version:content-type:content-transfer-encoding; b=fI7sHqHUoQmBjyPyLHc0xIUbJpawFk//q1MySkZfdRfv8Xx/PgJK0A9RoB/52RUoZ8oIIXeZ2YjQYCgXOyfPFtcmt6zzgxExYyisIDekgOChukael58nYFzxwDdWcv1W4xO7Rm2lJIin8jxOv9Pm1R8HNPf6Q6Ub61MZLEaP0/k= Received: by 10.90.91.14 with SMTP id o14mr1379292agb.1195145125247; Thu, 15 Nov 2007 08:45:25 -0800 (PST) Received: from ?192.168.2.2? ( [67.85.89.184]) by mx.google.com with ESMTPS id n26sm3202638ele.2007.11.15.08.45.22 (version=TLSv1/SSLv3 cipher=RC4-MD5); Thu, 15 Nov 2007 08:45:23 -0800 (PST) Message-ID: <473C7799.9060609@gmail.com> Date: Thu, 15 Nov 2007 11:45:13 -0500 From: "Aryeh M. Friedman" User-Agent: Thunderbird 2.0.0.6 (X11/20071111) MIME-Version: 1.0 To: Peo Nilsson References: <1195144649.48014.4.camel@zeus.se> In-Reply-To: <1195144649.48014.4.camel@zeus.se> X-Enigmail-Version: 0.95.5 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Cc: FreeBSD quest-list Subject: Re: gnupg keysize X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Thu, 15 Nov 2007 16:45:34 -0000 -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 Peo Nilsson wrote: > Dear listmembers. > > When browsing: http://www.gnupg.org/gph/en/manual.html#INTRO > > It says: "The size of a DSA key must be between 512 and 1024 bits". > It also says: "The ElGamal key may be of any size". > > Who and why has defined this? In my opinion, the size of a key is a > question for the user. - -- #toc, .toc, .mw-warning { border: 1px solid #aaa; background-color: #f9f9f9; padding: 5px; font-size: 95%; } #toc h2, .toc h2 { display: inline; border: none; padding: 0; font-size: 100%; font-weight: bold; } #toc #toctitle, .toc #toctitle, #toc .toctitle, .toc .toctitle { text-align: center; } #toc ul, .toc ul { list-style-type: none; list-style-image: none; margin-left: 0; padding-left: 0; text-align: left; } #toc ul ul, .toc ul ul { margin: 0 0 0 2em; } #toc .toctoggle, .toc .toctoggle { font-size: 94%; }@media print, projection, embossed { body { padding-top:1in; padding-bottom:1in; padding-left:1in; padding-right:1in; } } body { font-family:'Times New Roman'; color:#000000; widows:2; font-style:normal; text-indent:0in; font-variant:normal; font-size:12pt; text-decoration:none; font-weight:normal; text-align:left; } table { } td { border-collapse:collapse; text-align:left; vertical-align:top; } p, h1, h2, h3, li { color:#000000; font-family:'Times New Roman'; font-size:12pt; text-align:left; vertical-align:normal; } -->Different encryption schemes are "known" to be secure for certain key sizes and have not been tested and/or known to be breakable for other ones. This combined with the fact that PGP and other encryption front ends such as SSH and SSL need to meet certain standards for the US government (and by extension most of the major corps around the world) all of which require predefined key lengths means that the user does not and should not in most cases have complete freedom to select key sizes. If your concerned about security the best thing to do is get involved with various efforts to develop 2nd/3rd generation public-key algorithms. - -- Aryeh M. Friedman Developer, not business, friendly http://www.flosoft-systems.com -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v2.0.4 (FreeBSD) Comment: Using GnuPG with Mozilla - http://enigmail.mozdev.org iD8DBQFHPHeYJ9+1V27SttsRAouVAKCUlutI1KShPWOszBX2EhHLzBvsUQCcCD/y verURUjM/6E8gq8/Jl66Ghk= =SdsH -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----