-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- On Wed, 3 Jan 1996, Laszlo Vecsey wrote:
"Douglas F. Elznic" <delznic@storm.net> said:
Are you sure it's a bug in the DOS version? When I did a pgp -kg in my UNIX shell (US version 2.6.2) I also entered 2048 bits and it too created a 2047 bit key instead.
This is correct. I believe there are some UNIX flavors under which U.S. PGP can generate 2048 bit keys. However, most only allow 2047 bit keys. The international version does not have this bug.
Why is there a limit to the size of the key anyway? It's too bad PGP doesn't support any size key (within reason).
I really don't see the point of using a key larger than 2048 bits. Any larger key would actually be harder to factor than brute forcing the IDEA keyspace. Very little security would be gained from using a key larger than 3000 bits. Of course, one can always argue that improved factoring methods would require that an RSA public key be longer than 3000 bits to have equal security to IDEA. However, I doubt that factoring methods will improve that much. A 2048 bit key should be more than enough security for most applications. -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6.2 iQCVAwUBMOrkUbZc+sv5siulAQFWJgP+IlKURN3TtdXrqzLf3vCrva1tYkYC/lZU fIOlk5Cvnt9wpm/huZKu/nESvFmJutoTbZVvJz1EPglLc1YrAlo4xyWTJZgwMpgv khXzkEMaPludU1qfKowaM0qqeSHv80zSB97Mq0SbqNEPyM2K0r+gDobSjUgwKQCQ Mb5D9L3hTLA= =CDHg -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- finger -l markm@voicenet.com for PGP key http://www.voicenet.com/~markm/ Fingerprint: bd24d08e3cbb53472054fa56002258d5 Key-ID: 0xF9B22BA5 -----BEGIN GEEK CODE BLOCK----- Version: 3.1 GAT d- s:- a? C++++ U+++>$ P+++ L++(+++) E--- W++(--) N+++ o- K w--- O- M- V-- PS+++>$ PE-(++) Y++ PGP+(++) t-@ 5? X++ R-- tv+ b+++ DI+ D++ G+++ e! h* r! y? ------END GEEK CODE BLOCK------