Bryan Mongeau wrote:
> ... but I seem
> to be slightly confused about key lengths.
Yes, you do ;-) Key lengths for symmetric ciphers and key
lengths for public key cryptosystems are not equivalent. Although
it is hard to draw equivalences, a DH or RSA modulus length of 1024,
probably the smallest reasonable length to provide adequate
security, is roughly equivalent to a symmetric cipher key length
of 90 bits. Rijndael with 128 bits is probably quite secure.
Assuming that brute force key search is the best way to find
a plaintext from a given ciphertext, a 128 bit key would place
that recovery out of reach for hundreds of years using all of the
available computing power on the planet. Attacks against DH
and RSA are somewhat different -- these amount to finding better
algorithms to solve the discrete log problem (DH) or finding
prime factors of a composite.
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