On Fri, 2007-05-04 at 20:07 -0700, Matthew Ahrens wrote:
> I'm guessing that the key is around 1kB in size; if this is wrong let me
> know.)
Your guess seems high to me.
These days, typical (symmetric) encryption keys are more like 128-256
bits (16-32 bytes). 128 is common; 256 bits is overkill against likely
threats -- when used, it may be a speculative hedge against significant
breakthroughs in quantum cryptography.
It's plausible that some keys would be stored in wrapped/encrypted form,
or with additional metadata, and that might double or triple the 16-32
bytes but that still leaves you a good distance from using up a whole
kilobyte.
- Bill
