[145809] in cryptography@c2.net mail archive
Re: Merkle Signature Scheme is the most secure signature scheme
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Perry E. Metzger)
Sat Sep 4 15:24:29 2010
Date: Sat, 4 Sep 2010 10:48:08 -0400
From: "Perry E. Metzger" <perry@piermont.com>
To: Dave Horsfall <dave@horsfall.org>
Cc: Cryptography List <cryptography@metzdowd.com>
In-Reply-To: <Pine.BSI.4.64.1009041017130.13891@dave.horsfall.org>
On Sat, 4 Sep 2010 10:45:48 +1000 (EST) Dave Horsfall
<dave@horsfall.org> wrote:
> Funny you should mention that. Back in the late 70s, a work
> colleague suggested that the Unix crypt() function was a ring (we
> both had mathematical backgrounds), which gave me the idea of
> repeatedly encrypting the encrypted root password.
You mean a group.
It is known that DES is not a group, but that result comes from a
different use of the algorithm than the somewhat way DES is invoked
in the crypt(3) algorithm, and I don't know if that modifies the
result. None the less, I suspect it would be surprising if it turned
out to be a group even in the use in crypt(3).
Perry
--
Perry E. Metzger perry@piermont.com
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