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Calling Grufty Jim (& the rest of you 2)
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YerArseInParsley
365 posts

Re: Encryption
Nov 10, 2002, 01:59
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/145179.stm

This url is the most informative that I can find for the non-technical amongst us. Having had time to search ( I had a family 'do' earlier, my apologies for being curt) me thinks Jim is probably right and I have swallowed and regurgitated an urban myth as regards the kid breaking 1024 encryption in 6 hours.
All myths are circulated for a reason, that is the main point of this post, stop reading here if I bore you. Encryption is good and easy.

I personally am at more risk for falling for this particular sort of myth because I used to work in computing so I was subject to 'training' - conditioning and technique. Never trust an expert. They lie as they were lied to. I worked on some Israeli military codes that are used in Sky TVs smart cards ( low tech stuff but I couldn't understand it except momentarily), and I worked on the network where half of the worlds financial transactions take place, where the security is as tight as anywhere. To the best of my very unreliable memory I read the myth in a trade magazine. I'm okay technically but I'm both gullible and cynical simultaneously, ( the secret of my 'success') and I do fall for some manipulation or misjudgements, but I'm happy to concede a point if I learn something. I'm not proud of my corporate past, but I never worked for an arms manufacturer, though I have worked on RAF systems with reasonable security clearance for a civilian, which is kind of ironic now. My talents are fixing things, breaking things and changing things. My weak points are obvious.
I'm certainly more technician than mathematician and I couldn't tell you whether it is possible to devise a code that is unbreakbale, though intuitively I'd guess not. No defence is insurmountable, but no defence should be ignored for that fact, every little helps. Encrytion is a good habit to get into.

You may be able to design an unbreakable code but you can't design an unbreakable person to share it with. Look at the laws, look at the powers the security services have. This isn't an abstract threat to you, this is what is legal. You want to know the security services answer to any critical question (at least to me) ? "Well, you would too, wouldn't you?". They know me well.

Please everybody use 2048 encryption, like Jim recommends for it is the best that is widely available and it helps to redress the technological imbalance between you and the modern world.
Each encrypted email is an email that they have to process to uncover each free-thinker or dissident.
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Re: Encryption (YerArseInParsley)		 Replies:
Encryption as i see it (grufty jim)
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