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How much of this stuff was validated through public competitions like for AES, etc.? I have no doubt he's a stellar cryptographer but it looks to me like there

by pnako 7y ago

How much of this stuff was validated through public competitions like for AES, etc.? I have no doubt he's a stellar cryptographer but it looks to me like there is also some fanboyism from programmers with no particular crypto background.

pingyong 7y ago
All of the algorithms are considered secure by the cryptographic community. You don't have to win a NIST competition to be considered secure, most if not all of the AES competition finalists that didn't win are also still unbroken. (Although some have been more thoroughly analyzed than others over the years.)
hannob 7y ago
> How much of this stuff was validated through public competitions like for AES, etc.? Some of it, with some caveats. Salsa20 was a result of the estream competition. This was organized in a similar fashion to the AES competition, although it didn't get nearly as much attention. Chacha20 is only a slight variation of salsa20. Curve25519 was discussed extensively in the IETF. It wasn't a formal competition, but it was an extensive discussion and there was definitely motivation from others to point out any issues that there might be with curve25519.
dangerface 7y ago
> How much of this stuff was validated through public competitions like for AES, etc.? Curve25519, Ed25519, ChaCha20, Poly1305 have all been entered into competitions like AES and usually get to the final round which is usually more about politics than security. The algorithms have also been validated by independents like google who where one of the first to review, use and promote the algorithms. > it looks to me like there is also some fanboyism from programmers with no particular crypto background. Absolutely but we fan boy for him because he has been so widely reviewed with stellar results.
- floodyberry- 7y ago
  None of them have been in any competition like AES
chasil 7y ago
This blog post goes into issues of code quality, fanboyism, and exploit fatigue. https://www.metzdowd.com/pipermail/cryptography/2016-March/028824.html https://www.metzdowd.com/pipermail/cryptography/2016-March/0... All of these are combining for a rejection of classic crypto in preference to DJB's innovations.

by pnako 7y ago

pingyong 7y ago

All of the algorithms are considered secure by the cryptographic community. You don't have to win a NIST competition to be considered secure, most if not all of the AES competition finalists that didn't win are also still unbroken. (Although some have been more thoroughly analyzed than others over the years.)

hannob 7y ago

> How much of this stuff was validated through public competitions like for AES, etc.? Some of it, with some caveats. Salsa20 was a result of the estream competition. This was organized in a similar fashion to the AES competition, although it didn't get nearly as much attention. Chacha20 is only a slight variation of salsa20. Curve25519 was discussed extensively in the IETF. It wasn't a formal competition, but it was an extensive discussion and there was definitely motivation from others to point out any issues that there might be with curve25519.

dangerface 7y ago

> How much of this stuff was validated through public competitions like for AES, etc.? Curve25519, Ed25519, ChaCha20, Poly1305 have all been entered into competitions like AES and usually get to the final round which is usually more about politics than security. The algorithms have also been validated by independents like google who where one of the first to review, use and promote the algorithms. > it looks to me like there is also some fanboyism from programmers with no particular crypto background. Absolutely but we fan boy for him because he has been so widely reviewed with stellar results.

floodyberry- 7y ago
None of them have been in any competition like AES

chasil 7y ago

This blog post goes into issues of code quality, fanboyism, and exploit fatigue. https://www.metzdowd.com/pipermail/cryptography/2016-March/028824.html https://www.metzdowd.com/pipermail/cryptography/2016-March/0... All of these are combining for a rejection of classic crypto in preference to DJB's innovations.