Encryption Works

[subvolatil]

This  is  a pretty god article for  people to  understand  and  use  encryption.


https://pressfreedomfoundation.org/encryption-works

[Benson Samuel]

This  is  a pretty god article for  people to  understand  and  use  encryption.


https://pressfreedomfoundation.org/encryption-works

Ufff, TL; DR.. Any summary?

[Pinwheel]

if you have strong PGP keys non of your correspondents will be able to use them. People who on MAC and Windows PGP (GPG) frontends will not be able to use any good public key. So, what you going to do? You are going to give them weak key.

for now PGP with good key too costly to break, also 3DES still OK with long pass.

voting for AES was influenced toward Rijandel so use of AES256 maybe not a good idea.

[subvolatil]

if you have strong PGP keys non of your correspondents will be able to use them. People who on MAC and Windows PGP (GPG) frontends will not be able to use any good public key. So, what you going to do? You are going to give them weak key.

for now PGP with good key too costly to break, also 3DES still OK with long pass.

voting for AES was influenced toward Rijandel so use of AES256 maybe not a good idea.

Well the  problem with the  block  ciphers Like Rijandel and AES, is  that the key  exchange  becomes  a  problem when it  comes  to  two  way  communication. Yeh,  you  can  use Diffie-Hellman key exchange protocol, but that's just  adding an extra  layer. ECC is a  better  option  for now. But then again  all this is  only  valid  for the next  20-25 years. As  soon as  Quantum computing becomes  cheap enough all  hell  is  going  to  break loose when it  comes  to  public  key cryptography.  We already  have   carbon  nano tubes  shrinking  processor  chips  down.  Moore's law is  still  alive and kicking.

[Jambi]

As  soon as  Quantum computing becomes  cheap enough all  hell  is  going  to  break loose when it  comes  to  public  key cryptography. 

I've heard people say this before, but can't we just add more encryption bits?  True, 256-bit, 512-bit is too low.  What about a million bit encryption?  Quantum computing will only be a problem if just a few people have these computers.  If they are mainstream then there is a level playing field once again.

[Pinwheel]

As  soon as  Quantum computing becomes  cheap enough all  hell  is  going  to  break loose when it  comes  to  public  key cryptography. 

I've heard people say this before, but can't we just add more encryption bits?  True, 256-bit, 512-bit is too low.  What about a million bit encryption?  Quantum computing will only be a problem if just a few people have these computers.  If they are mainstream then there is a level playing field once again.

it is not question of adding bits,

but question of practicality. you can encrypt your message 100s of times with diff ciphers, each time use different password not less then 90 characters and your message will be "Hello John !!"

[subvolatil]

As  soon as  Quantum computing becomes  cheap enough all  hell  is  going  to  break loose when it  comes  to  public  key cryptography. 

I've heard people say this before, but can't we just add more encryption bits?  True, 256-bit, 512-bit is too low.  What about a million bit encryption?  Quantum computing will only be a problem if just a few people have these computers.  If they are mainstream then there is a level playing field once again.

Yeh ! what you say would work, but the problem is that for such computing power to reach the masses, will take  a long time. an estimated  point would be  some where around 30 years. Till that time the  government or  companies that have the most money, would be the  ones able to afford it.

We already know that google has just got their first Quantum computer. If google can get it then there is nothing stopping Big government  getting it.  Even if  we say the governments will take another 5 years to acquire a  quantum computer, that still leaves a  huge gap of about 10-15 years that government/companies can use their  Qcomputers effectively.

[subvolatil]

As  soon as  Quantum computing becomes  cheap enough all  hell  is  going  to  break loose when it  comes  to  public  key cryptography. 

I've heard people say this before, but can't we just add more encryption bits?  True, 256-bit, 512-bit is too low.  What about a million bit encryption?  Quantum computing will only be a problem if just a few people have these computers.  If they are mainstream then there is a level playing field once again.

it is not question of adding bits,

but question of practicality. you can encrypt your message 100s of times with diff ciphers, each time use different password not less then 90 characters and your message will be "Hello John !!"

Well there have been  works on  quantum cryptography using  single  photons that would greatly increase the  probability level, and the  establishment of the Standard model and the proof  of the Higgs Boson may  play a  big part in the creation of a practical cryptography system that can  be used in the  future  once  Public key cryptography and block ciphers becomes obsolete . 

[Benson Samuel]

Any foreseeable damage that may be caused to sha256/ Bitcoin before the cipher can be changed?
And any idea if quantum-crypto can be used for Bitcoin instead of sha?

[americandesi]

Why wait for quantum computing.?
Have you seen the NSA datacenter in Utah, USA.?

Have a look.. google it.. they have so much of abundant computing power that rumors are that they have broken SSL and VPN (client certificate authentication like Openvpn) encryption.
Am not sure if they have been successful in breaking AES 256 and probably not SHA256 though.

If they had, then probably they would have brought down bitcoin network instead of going behind SR.

Source : http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/06/us/nsa-foils-much-internet-encryption.html?pagewanted=all&_r=1&

[subvolatil]

Any foreseeable damage that may be caused to sha256/ Bitcoin before the cipher can be changed?
And any idea if quantum-crypto can be used for Bitcoin instead of sha?

Well regarding  SHA256, i  dont  think  that is  going  to be  any  damage to bitcoin, and the need  to change is not  nessary, if Bitcoin  is allowed to  progress with  its  difficulty level in proportionate to  tech  advancement, and  mass  adoption. The  difficulty  level  rise,  would adjust  for the  rapid  change  in  new  technology, and  not  need for  a  change in cipher.

Regarding  your  second  question.  NO.  (my personal  opinion).
It  would  rather  be a fork of a  new  currency that would only  be using Quantum cryptography and  this  would  only be  compatible  with Quantum computers. so all the  mechanics need  to have  the  Qchip. as for the  use  of  bitcoin  to  integrate  with  Quantum computing  that is a possibility, so bitcoins  can  be  backward compatible. but all these  things  are  a   far  in the  future, it  may be  possible  that Bitcoin  may  die out before Quantum  computing  can  even  be a  viable  consumer  product.

On  a  side  note  before  quantum  computing  comes in  i  believe  the  new Nanotube  chips will be  the  next  evolution as it  has  been  fabricated into a 9nm chips. its only a mater of time  that  these carbon  nano tube  chips  becomes  standard in all hardware.    

[subvolatil]

Why wait for quantum computing.?
Have you seen the NSA datacenter in Utah, USA.?

Have a look.. google it.. they have so much of abundant computing power that rumors are that they have broken SSL and VPN (client certificate authentication like Openvpn) encryption.
Am not sure if they have been successful in breaking AES 256 and probably not SHA256 though.

If they had, then probably they would have brought down bitcoin network instead of going behind SR.

Source : http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/06/us/nsa-foils-much-internet-encryption.html?pagewanted=all&_r=1&

That might  already have it .  who knows.

But the  Data  Center in  Utah, is  some thing only an idiot  would  build. who  builds a  data  center  in  a  middle  of a   freaking  desert and   spend  so much on cooling.  they  would  have  been  better  off   building  that center  in Alaska.

oh  the  SHA256 is a hash  function  so  it  is   reversible. AES yes  NSA  must  have  broken it a long  time  ago. with NSA its  a simple  rule  if  you cant  break it   then  get a  backdoor  installed in it.   

[americandesi]

Why wait for quantum computing.?
Have you seen the NSA datacenter in Utah, USA.?

Have a look.. google it.. they have so much of abundant computing power that rumors are that they have broken SSL and VPN (client certificate authentication like Openvpn) encryption.
Am not sure if they have been successful in breaking AES 256 and probably not SHA256 though.

If they had, then probably they would have brought down bitcoin network instead of going behind SR.

Source : http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/06/us/nsa-foils-much-internet-encryption.html?pagewanted=all&_r=1&

That might  already have it .  who knows.

But the  Data  Center in  Utah, is  some thing only an idiot  would  build. who  builds a  data  center  in  a  middle  of a   freaking  desert and   spend  so much on cooling.  they  would  have  been  better  off   building  that center  in Alaska.

oh  the  SHA256 is a hash  function  so  it  is   reversible. AES yes  NSA  must  have  broken it a long  time  ago. with NSA its  a simple  rule  if  you cant  break it   then  get a  backdoor  installed in it.   

Their site says that their target is to break AES 256. (http://nsa.gov1.info/utah-data-center/)

And regarding the location Utah. Dude as you say it is deserted and no one ever goes to utah for pleasure... That is like a forbidden land.
Since most of Satellite FFC earth stations are located in the west coast, Utah was the most preferred location in west coast which has pretty good connectivity to Undersea fiber as well as satellite earth stations.

And moreover, they already have NSA headquarters in east coast which can take care of the rest.

[subvolatil]

The  utah center is a  mostly a  data   storage and   analysis   facility, that means  they are  using  alot  of   servers generating  alot  of  heat . In that hot  climate  the NSA data  center  is   inviting   a  huge   power  bill  for  cooling, and a  accident   in the  making  if  one  of the   cooling   unites   starts to  fail. and  any  ways the NSA  facility   did  have    some   huge  explosion  because of  wrong  power systems  being  used. It  still makes   verry  little   sense  on  why  they  would open  a   facility  there. 

 Regarding  tapping the oceanic Fiber  line  those  were  being  tapped  ever  since  the  cold  war using   Nuclear  subs.  At the moment  THE  US and  China  is  the  two  major  powers  that  have  tapped   and  control the  underseas fiber  line.