beckman@sauron.cs.hope.edu (Peter Beckman) writes: Did anyone ever think that maybe, just maybe, PGP was developed, and before the programmer started giving it away for free, that he was paid by the government to give them the key which can unlock ANY PGP locked document/file/etc??? I
It's more likely that the government after the fact has started trying to spread the rumor that PGP has an intentional hole in it or can be broken easily. I've seen a number of rumors of this kind, and at least one of the latter (i.e. they can read traffic with 1024-bit keys easily, but 2-4K keys might make them sweat) was encouraged by a visiting NSA guy, according to the person who posted it. The frequent postings of the first rumor (prz corrupted) to a.s.pgp look orchestrated to me... but then I'm a bit paranoid.
distributing, etc... Makes you wonder huh... It's possible. Maybe he wrote in the PGP program a loophole in the encryption so that he could decrypt anything
No, doesn't make me wonder, no, it's not possible. Read the code -- it's all free. If you don't read C, find somebody you trust to read it to you. Read the math -- it's all been published and vetted by experts. Watch the emerging analysis of IDEA; watch the factoring records and the amount of time required for them. Don't trust the executables -- recompile it yourself with a different compiler... they can't hack 'em all. If you don't know anybody you trust to read code and compile for you, you're not in a strong enough position to worry about your own security anyway. Yes, that's elitist -- sue me. It's <your> security, so <you> have to pay attention to the developments that affect it. Jim Gillogly 1 Thrimidge S.R. 1994, 17:59