Comments: Easy, Portable PGP (crypto)
This may have been an excellent package, when it was first introduced in 2008, but it is hopelessly outdated now.
Starting with PGP 9.x for the Symantec product, and GnuPG 1.4.10, the default key-type was switched from DSS/ElGamal to RSA. Furthermore, the default key-size was raised to 2048-bits. The U.S. National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST) has indicated that 1024-bit keys are deprecated as of the end of December 2010. They have issued a directive that 1024-bit keys are not to be used past 2013.
This PGP Portable software has not been updated in line with these recommendations. It still generates DSS/ElGamal keys by default, and the keysize generated is a maximum of 1024 bits.
What I find appalling is that this software even allows the generation of key as small as 512 bits!
Ten years ago, in 2002, people were cracking such small keys (512 bits) in a few weeks on machines they had laying about their offices.
I wouldn't trust anything important to this software.
This may have been an excellent package, when it was first introduced in 2008, but it is hopelessly outdated now.
Starting with PGP 9.x for the Symantec product, and GnuPG 1.4.10, the default key-type was switched from DSS/ElGamal to RSA. Furthermore, the default key-size was raised to 2048-bits. The U.S. National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST) has indicated that 1024-bit keys are deprecated as of the end of December 2010. They have issued a directive that 1024-bit keys are not to be used past 2013.
This PGP Portable software has not been updated in line with these recommendations. It still generates DSS/ElGamal keys by default, and the keysize generated is a maximum of 1024 bits.
What I find appalling is that this software even allows the generation of key as small as 512 bits!
Ten years ago, in 2002, people were cracking such small keys (512 bits) in a few weeks on machines they had laying about their offices.
I wouldn't trust anything important to this software.
Posted by Anonymous at May 20, 2012 09:35 PM