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Date:      Thu, 4 Oct 2001 08:09:01 -0700 (PDT)
From:      Caitlen <caitlen888@yahoo.com>
To:        security@FreeBSD.ORG
Subject:   Re: default cipher types in openssh
Message-ID:  <20011004150901.93436.qmail@web13904.mail.yahoo.com>

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Great... it's good to know that AES is the default
now.

I'm running 
FreeBSD 4.4-STABLE #0: Thu Sep 27 17:50:26 ADT 2001   
 root@pain.nb.vibe.net:/usr/src/sys/compile/PAIN  i386

and it looks like the upgrade to openssh 2.9 was just
committed.  So I'll have to make world today while I'm
working on something else.

I'm glad it's defaulting to aes 128, but we should ask
ourselves about the rest of the allowable cipher
types.  IS arcfour something we want to leave in
there?  Is it really needed?  Also, we should think
about the order of preferrance...  I realize that most
people who know anything about cipher types are going
to alter this ciphers parameter based on personal
preferrances, but we should get something that's
reasonable fast/secure for most people who can't be
bothered.

As for AES at 256 or 128 bit... which do you think we
should issue as the default.  Certainly AES256bit is a
more secure cipher.... however it probably comes at a
much higher cpu cost.  So maybe it's best not to make
it the default.

Is there any reason we need to keep cast128 and
arcfour in the default ciphers string for the client
or the server?  I can understand keeping it in the
client configuration in case of connecting to legacy
hosts, but isn't almost everyone with protocol 2 ssh
capable of doing 3des or blowfish atleast?

I still think changing the default logging facility to
"security" might be a good idea.. or atleast logging
"auth" by default :)

Anyways, I'm personally setting Ciphers AES256 in my
sshd_config files and ssh client configuration files
(including securecrt from vandyke on my windoze box). 
Yeah it may waste more horse power, but I feel
safer...  Though I seriously doubt anyone can crack
AES128 at the momment.  Or 3des for that matter....



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