Yes. It is, forgive me for being blunt, nearly completely wrong. For starters, there's two different kinds of keys in use: symmetric and asymmetric. The rati

Yes. It is, forgive me for being blunt, nearly completely wrong. For starters, there's two different kinds of keys in use: symmetric and asymmetric. The ratio of "bits" to "strength" is completely different for the two categories. Asymmetric keys are typically only used to handle identity, then bootstrap a selection of symmetric keys (which are faster to use, generally); and then the symmetric keys used are typically based on Diffie Hellman key exchange, which is a whole 'nother ball of wax. Which bits you have to hold onto, and what you get when you compromise them, is not a flat field. Compromising the asymmetric keys used for identity at the beginning of communication means you can forge that identity in the future; but it doesn't necessarily mean you get to compromise other communications made with yet other keys which were merely agreed upon under the situational aegis of those asymmetric keys at a previous date.