On 10/17/2011 7:51 AM, sweepslate wrote: > I wanted to use something larger than a passphrase so I wondered if I > can use a key. But on a second thought, I could use a SHA512SUM as a > passphrase, which is 128 bytes in length. That makes it 1024 bits; > correct? It's like a small key. I could use 4 of them combined for the > strength of a key of 4096 bits.
Other people will explain how to use various command-line options to do what you want: me, I'm going to offer a hopefully polite correction. Asymmetric key lengths cannot be directly compared to symmetric key lengths. A 128-bit *symmetric* cipher is roughly a trillion times stronger than a 1024-bit *asymmetric* cipher: in fact, the general understanding is that a 128-bit symmetric cipher is comparable to a 3072-bit asymmetric cipher. You can use symmetric cryptography, driven by a passphrase and hashed with a good algorithm, with confidence. _______________________________________________ Gnupg-users mailing list Gnupg-users@gnupg.org http://lists.gnupg.org/mailman/listinfo/gnupg-users
