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"Is there really such a thing as "unbreakable cryptography"?" Yes. One time pads are unbreakable. "Even after the aliens from Andromeda land with their massi
by rsync 9y ago
"Is there really such a thing as "unbreakable cryptography"?"
Yes. One time pads are unbreakable.
"Even after the aliens from Andromeda land with their massive spaceships and undreamed-of computing power, they will not be able to read the Soviet spy messages encrypted with one-time pads (unless they can also go back in time and get the one-time pads)." (Bruce Schneier, Applied Cryptography)
- Animats 9y agoOnly if they're really random. See Venona.
- njarboe 9y agoOne could envision that the transportation of one-time pads as the only objects worth shipping between inhabited solar systems. Value per gram could be enormous.
- int_19h 9y ago"Our main cargo is a one-time cryptographic pad. The source is Commercial Security at Sjandra Kei; the destination is the certificants' High colony. It was the usual arrangement: We're carrying a one-third xor of the pad. Independent shippers are carrying the others. At the destination, the three parts would be xor'd together. The result could supply a dozen worlds' crypto needs on the Net ..." - Vernor Vinge, "A Fire upon the Deep"
- njarboe 9y agoThanks for the ref. That's where I got it from. Couldn't remember if it was from "A Fire upon the Deep" or from an Ian Banks Culture series book.
- bhaak 9y agoAre these the same one time pads that have already been cracked by the NSA after the Soviets reused them?
- PeterisP 9y agoIf you reuse them, then it's not a one time pad any more, is it? Yes, it's well known that two-time pads are very vulnerable in ways that one time pads are not.
- bhaak 9y agoThey are still one time pads, just incorrectly used. Even if the cryptography is sound, you also need to ensure that no user error can happen.