Re: New possible source for cryptographic algorithm

Alan Olsen (alano@adams.pcx.ncd.com)
Fri, 15 Jan 1999 13:51:50 -0800


On Jan 15, 3:12pm, Billy Harvey wrote:
> Subject: New possible source for cryptographic algorithm
> A young lady in Ireland has developed a cryptographic algorithm that
> at first look provides significantly better speed than RSA. She is
> thinking of releasing the algorithm under open source. The article
> seems relevant to the kernel due to the recent discussions of
> cryptographic hooks. An open source algorithm would be well accepted
> by many users of Linux.
>
> http://www.techweb.com/wire/story/TWB19990114S0014

A couple of points:

The algorithm has not been released to the general public.

It may yet be patented.

It has not undergone peer review.

The keys are eight times the size of an RSA key.

The algorithm is for public key cryptography. It does not lend itself to being
a block or stream cypher very well.

Much better use of time would be spent getting known algorithms implemented.
(via supporting the kerneli.org effort.)

-- 
Alan Olsen

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