Newsgroups: sci.crypt
Path: utzoo!henry
From: henry@utzoo.uucp (Henry Spencer)
Subject: Re: Flat distributions
Message-ID: <1988Jan28.140332.12477@utzoo.uucp>
Organization: U of Toronto Zoology
References: <6048@sol.ARPA>
Date: Thu, 28-Jan-88 14:03:29 EST

> ... (Note that on continuous streams
> you are not going to go to very much trouble to produce dummy messages
> with the same characteristics as real messages; you'll just send bits
> and exploit the superiority of your cipher.)

Ah, but you'd better exercise at least a little bit of cleverness.  If
the dummy-message content is too predictable, and the opposition finds
out about it (remember the standard assumption that the keys can be kept
secret but the machinery can't be), you've just handed them a dandy
starting point for known-plaintext attacks on your cipher.
-- 
Those who do not understand Unix are |  Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology
condemned to reinvent it, poorly.    | {allegra,ihnp4,decvax,utai}!utzoo!henry