[2368] in cryptography@c2.net mail archive
Re: Weak Crypto and Y2K
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Eli Brandt)
Wed Mar 25 16:06:21 1998
To: crypto list <cryptography@c2.net>
Date: Wed, 25 Mar 1998 10:58:20 -0500 (EST)
From: Eli Brandt <eli@gs160.sp.cs.cmu.edu>
In-Reply-To: <v03130301b13e913900de@[24.128.40.70]> from "Arnold G. Reinhold" at Mar 25, 98 08:36:01 am
Arnold G. Reinhold wrote:
> I think there is a parallel between designing electronic commerce
> infrastructure today that use weak cryptography (i.e. 40 or 56 bit keys)
> and, say, designing air traffic control systems in the '60s using two
> digit year fields.
Excellent analogy; I'll try that when proselytizing. It takes the
essential truth that we're proposing to build time bombs into our
infrastructure and gives it a gloss that even the technically
illiterate think they understand. (Half of them write articles too.)
--
Eli Brandt | eli+@cs.cmu.edu | http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~eli/
