Re: NSA enhancing Linux security?

From: Bill Unruh (unruh_at_string.physics.ubc.ca)
Date: 02/29/04 

Date: Sun, 29 Feb 2004 00:03:49 +0000 (UTC)

Christopher Browne <cbbrowne@acm.org> writes:

]In an attempt to throw the authorities off his trail, unruh@string.physics.ubc.ca (Bill Unruh) transmitted:
]> And despite that those 10^6 processors still would require 10^17 years
]> to break say blowfish by searching for the keys.

]By a brute-force search, yes, that is probably right.

]The danger is that the clever mathematicians at the NSA may have come
]up with clever ways of finding answers faster.

]Remember, I said "may have come up with," not "they surely know;"
]those are very different phrases...

Sure they may have come up with psychic powers so that they can read teh
cleartext from the mind of the person who sent the encrypted text. Note
I said "may have come up with" not "they surely can", those are very
different phrases.

The statement of the poster was that because NSA had huge computer power
they could read any encryption-- "faster than it could be encrypted".