>Depends on what algorithm you're using for the symmetric cipher. A 128-bit >cipher gets a 128-bit session key, a 256-bit cipher gets a 256-bit session >key. The only exception might be 3DES, which >technically requires a 192-bit >session key, but since only 168 bits get used, there could be some discrepancy >there. > >> When the session key is randomly generated (asymmetric encryption), >> how large is the session key? Is the length set or does it depend on >> other parameter such as the length of the DSA/RSA key or hash? > > It is the key size of your symmetric cipher. So AES256 == 256 bits, AES128 > == 128 bits, etc. >
Thanks for rapid response -- I guess I'm missing out on some of the more basic details. Just a quick followup. If I'm planning on using gpg to symmetrically encrypt a file for example, and choose a password. This password is salted and hashed. Say for theoretical reasons SHA512 was used to perform the hashing producing a 512 bit hash result. Would then hash then be rounded, or the right most bits excluded if it were to used with AES encryption (which requires a 128 bit key)? In the opposite situation, say SHA1 produced a 160 bit hash result and I wanted to use AES256 (which requires a 256 bit key) -- would "extra bits" be added onto the hash result to pad the results up to 256 bits? Using the defaults as provided in the standard gpg.conf file -- what hash is used in the normal salting/hashing process during symmetric encryption? I dont believe this is the s2k-digest-algo since this is for key protection. -- Kevin Hilton _______________________________________________ Gnupg-users mailing list Gnupg-users@gnupg.org http://lists.gnupg.org/mailman/listinfo/gnupg-users
