Re: subjective names and MITM
A public key *is* "very probably unique". A "randomly selected" 1024 bit prime number has a specific amount of entropy in it. The likelihood of two users world wide "randomly" choosing the same such prime may be precisely determined (assuming you can figure the entropy).
Given the difficulty of finding primes, how likely do you think it is that given one of the well known methods and finding the first 1024 bit prime that pops out would give you an effective attack? Patrick _______________________________________________________________________ / These opinions are mine, and not Verity's (except by coincidence;). \ | (\ | | Patrick J. Horgan Verity Inc. \\ Have | | patrick@verity.com 1550 Plymouth Street \\ _ Sword | | Phone : (415)960-7600 Mountain View \\/ Will | | FAX : (415)960-7750 California 94303 _/\\ Travel | \___________________________________________________________\)__________/
Patrick Horgan writes:
Given the difficulty of finding primes, how likely do you think it is that given one of the well known methods and finding the first 1024 bit prime that pops out would give you an effective attack?
I'm not an expert here, but I understand the "well-known methods" to essentially use some formula that "tends" to generate prime numbers from uniformly distributed numbers, feed it a "good" random number, and then check to see if it's really prime. If it's not, pick another "good" random number and try again. The entropy in the prime is the same as in the random number generator.
participants (2)
-
patrick＠Verity.COM -
Scott Brickner