From: Rick Moen (rick at domain linuxmafia.com)
Date: Mon 17 Sep 2001 - 18:18:49 IST
begin Justin Mason quotation:
> But that's partly the point -- a good algorithm can be made breakable by
> insecure uses of it, for example when an attacker can make assumptions
> about what data is being transmitted; this allows a known-plaintext attack
> (cribs), etc.
Schneier cites a case of a German naval officer in occupied Norway
radioing back "Nothing to report" in code every morning, allowing a
fairly easy known-plaintext attack.
Oh, by the way: Last week, I wrote "Whitfield and Diffie", which must
mean I was much more exhausted than I thought I was. I meant Whitfield
Diffie and Martin Hellman, of course.
I've had supper with Whitfield Diffie, after he gave a talk for the
Electronic Frontier Foundation -- after which I drove his extra car home
for him, since he lives fairly close to my house. Leading to inevitable
gests about my having custody of Whitfield Diffie's keys.
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