[871] in cryptography@c2.net mail archive
RE: DES cracking is making real progress
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Pat Farrell)
Tue May 20 18:58:31 1997
Date: Tue, 20 May 1997 18:21:39 -0400
To: nelson@media.mit.edu (Nelson Minar), Andy Brown <a.brown@nexor.co.uk>
From: Pat Farrell <pfarrell@netcom.com>
Cc: "cryptography@c2.net" <cryptography@c2.net>
At 12:00 PM 5/20/97 -0400, Nelson Minar wrote:
>Is single DES still used to protect money transfers?
Single DES, with real (random) session keys protected by RSA, is the
heart of lots of Internet commerce, including the soon
to be widely available and loved SET.
Of course for the interesting protocols, cracking DES
gives you one session key, which is often only one message.
That may have some value, but you get to start all over
with the next session.
The American and UK bankers that I've talked to are quite
comfortable with DES today. I don't know if breaking one
key will change that.
Pat
Pat Farrell CyberCash, Inc. (703) 715-7834
pfarrell@cybercash.com
#include standard.disclaimer
