Compelling Advantage of Public Key Systems

[Bruce Baugh]

At 12:58 AM 2/20/96 -0800, tcmay at got.net (Timothy C. May) wrote:

>To wit: public key systems drastically simplify the whole key exchange problem.

Exactly. I was trying (not very successfully, I fear) to explain this point
just this afternoon to an acquaintance who's developed a handy-to-use but
not at all really secure encryption utility. Quite apart from the issue of
key size, the public-key system means that I never have to have a secure
channel to start communicating. If I've got a channel secure enough to send
a clear password to you, I don't need the encryption for security reasons.
(_Economic_ reasons may well be valid ones, in practice, but again, if a
secure channel isn't routinely available, I say go for the tool that doesn't
require it.)

I find that it generally takes a few repetitions of this for it to sink in,
but once it does, an "aha!" usually follows.

-- 
Bruce Baugh
bruce at aracnet.com
http://www.aracnet.com/~bruce