Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!sun-barr!olivea!uunet!maverick.ksu.ksu.edu!ux1.cso.uiuc.edu!cs.uiuc.edu!gillies From: gillies@cs.uiuc.edu (Don Gillies) Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.misc Subject: Re: APPLE & FCC PETITION (PRESS RELEASE) Message-ID: <1991Feb4.233214.486@cs.uiuc.edu> Date: 4 Feb 91 23:32:14 GMT References: <1991Jan31.102256.16498@tsa.co.uk> <1991Feb2.235110.17551@cs.uiuc.edu> <1991Feb4.184339.24202@csn.org> Organization: University of Illinois, Dept. of Comp. Sci., Urbana, IL Lines: 18 I not was ignorant of encryption. Encryption is not a panacea. No macs currently have encryption hardware. Decent encryption is very expensive to compute, especially on the whole text stream. The NBS DES standard (upon which most hardware encryption chips are based) was compromised because the CIA wanted to be able to break any code generated by the standard. That is why the keys are so small (56 bits, I believe). It is unlikely that a radio network with encryption will have acceptable performance. It is unlikely that a radio network without encryption will have acceptable security. Don Gillies | University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign gillies@cs.uiuc.edu | Digital Computer Lab, 1304 W. Springfield, Urbana IL ---------------------+------------------------------------------------------ "UGH! WAR! ... What is it GOOD FOR? ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!" - 60's music lyrics --