On 23/10/2015 08:54, Johan Wevers wrote: > I just saw this posted in sci.crypt: > > http://arstechnica.com/security/2015/10/nsa-advisory-sparks-concern-of-secret-advance-ushering-in-cryptoapocalypse/ > > Short quote from the article linked to above: > > In August, National Security Agency officials advised US agencies > and businesses to prepare for a not-too-distant time when the > cryptography protecting virtually all sensitive government and > business communications is rendered obsolete by quantum computing. > The advisory recommended backing away from plans to deploy elliptic > curve cryptography, a form of public key cryptography that the NSA > spent the previous 20 years promoting as more secure than the older > RSA cryptosystem. > > Almost immediately, the dramatic about-face generated questions and > anxiety. Why would the NSA abruptly abandon a series of ECC > specifications it had championed for so long? Why were officials > issuing the advice now when a working quantum computer was 10 to 50 > years away, and why would they back away from ECC before > recommending a suite of quantum-resistant alternatives? The fact > that the NSA was continuing to endorse use of RSA, which is also > vulnerable to quantum computing, led some observers to speculate > there was a secret motivation that had nothing to do with quantum > computing. > > On Tuesday, researchers Neal Koblitz and Alfred J. Menezes > published a paper titled A Riddle Wrapped in an Enigma that > compiles some of the competing theories behind the August advisory. > The researchers stressed that that their paper isn't academic and > at times relies on unsourced facts and opinions. And sure enough, > some of the theories sound almost conspiratorial. Still, the paper > does a good job of evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of the > NSA's highly unexpected abandonment of ECC in a post quantum crypto > (PQC) world.
Sounds like an attempt as mass reverse psychology to me... -- Mark Rousell PGP public key: http://www.signal100.com/markr/pgp Key ID: C9C5C162 _______________________________________________ Gnupg-users mailing list Gnupg-users@gnupg.org http://lists.gnupg.org/mailman/listinfo/gnupg-users
