[2334] in cryptography@c2.net mail archive
Re: GeeK: Re: Rivest's Chaffing and Winnowing
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Philicious)
Mon Mar 23 19:30:10 1998
Date: Mon, 23 Mar 1998 17:45:18 -0500 (EST)
From: Philicious <philen@monkey.org>
To: Matt Blaze <mab@crypto.com>
Cc: Bill Stewart <bill.stewart@pobox.com>, coderpunks@toad.com,
cryptography@c2.net
In-Reply-To: <199803222115.QAA18054@tpc.crypto.com>
On Sun, 22 Mar 1998, Matt Blaze wrote:
> It's a cute idea. While it's not clear that it's especially
> practical as described, it does provide a nice proof-of-concept
> that traditional encryption isn't the only way to achieve message
> secrecy. It also illustrates a basic internal conflict in government
Highly impractical, if you ask me. Chaffing single bit packets results in
a message 200 times larger than the original ('each wheat packet may end
up being, say about 100 bits long, but only transmits one bit' -Rivest).
Not only that, but how cheaply can one generate all those wheat packet
MACs, not to mention believeable chaff packet MACs.
Perhaps chaffing half-byte packets would be secure enough (only
quadrupling the size of the message), but I am skeptical.
Still, it is a nifty idea with interesting legal implications.
-phil
