> > 3DES is the default cipher for every and all OpenPGP compliant program. > >> Any knowledge on why ElGamal was chosen over RSA as the default >> session key cipher? > > I'm not sure what you mean by "session key cipher". Elgamal, like RSA, is a > public key (aka "asymmetric") algorithm. It was chosen largely because it > was patent-free, and at the time, RSA was most certainly not. > > David > >
Just one point of clarification since I'm not using the proper terminology, but I thought ElGamal/RSA was used only as the asymmetric algorithm which acted to encrypt/decrypt the session key. As with all asymmetric key encryption algorithms, each has 3 parts: the key generator, the encryption algorithm, and decryption algorithm. I thought however once the encryption key was generated, this key would be used to encrypt the randomly generated session key -- which would be later decrypted, and then used as input to the symmetric cipher to decrypt the ciphertext to plain text. And lastly -- not to beat a dead horse, but using gnupg 1.4.10 compiled from svn with the IDEA module included -- I generated a new key and then viewed the key preferences (no changes have been made to the gpg.conf file -- the file is in its default state). I received the following as the preferences: Cipher: AES256, AES192, AES, CAST5, 3DES, IDEA Digest: SHA1, SHA256, RIPEMD160 Compression: ZLIB, BZIP2, ZIP, Uncompressed Features: MDC, Keyserver no-modify Would not this output seem to imply the key was generated with preference for the AES family over 3DES? I am aware that at a minimum keys are always created with 3DES included in the cipher preference list. Possibly both you and I are confusing the idea of default. I am aware of default in terms of compatibility that 3DES must be included in any OpenGPG compliant implementation, however I thought as a "default", gnupg preferred AES over 3DES (as over 1.4.8). -- Kevin Hilton _______________________________________________ Gnupg-users mailing list Gnupg-users@gnupg.org http://lists.gnupg.org/mailman/listinfo/gnupg-users