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0 pointscperciva17y ago0 comments

Correction: 128-bit AES is out of the reach of a brute force attack.

The NSA doesn't do brute force.

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3 comments · 1 top-level

Herring17y ago· 2 in thread

AES is approved by the NSA for top secret information. If they had found a way to crack it, don't you think there would have been a contest to replace AES like there was with DES?

They're not that far ahead any more.

http://www.schneier.com/essay-064.html

cpercivaOP17y ago

AES is approved by the NSA for top secret information

Correction: AES192 and AES256 are approved by the NSA as a component in an approved implementation. AES128 is specifically NOT permitted for use with top secret information.

They're not that far ahead any more.

Schneier is probably right; the NSA is probably a few years ahead technologically instead of two decades ahead. However, they still have a very large budget.

Herring17y ago

Rijndael was selected in 2001 after a 5-year selection process. I assume AES128 was never allowed from the beginning; the alternative would leak too much information. We still think AES128 must be brute forced. So what's the chance that today they're over a decade ahead?

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