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US Department of Commerce unveils quantum-resistant encryption algorithms | IoT Now News & Reports (www.iot-now.com)

submitted 4 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Which algorithms have they endorsed? Did they make any changes to them?

[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 months ago

I saw another reporting on the same topic, apparently there are 3 algorithms developed.

[+] [email protected] -10 points 4 months ago (3 children)

This is a sure sign that the NSA have been reading everything encrypted with standard cryptos for quite some time but they see that the opposition (China in this case) is showing signs of catching up. Can't have that, even if it means losing capability for themselves. They have other ways in so the drop in capability is not as big as one would think.

I personally wouldn't trust anything but one time cryptos to be safe and I don't trust any algorithm from that source to be safe. It certainly should be and it is very much in their and our interest to make sure that it is, but the possibility that they are trying to eat the cake and pull a fast one is frighteningly far from zero. It would be monumentally stupid to try because shit like that always gets out and that would jeopardize every system in the world. Stupid isn't exactly in short supply these days.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 4 months ago

There are already quantum resistant algorithms available as open source libraries, and some tools which already use them. It's nice to see some standards emerging, although I'll be more confident after external reviews pronounce them "clear."

[–] [email protected] 9 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Quantum computers are not advanced enough to break RSA/EC yet. NSA might have some secret backdoors, but the recent focus on quantum-resistent encryption from both the public and private sectors (see TLS and Mullvad) has nothing to do with China.

What is a one-time crypto, and how does it allow you to avoid the use of quantum-vulnerable asymmetric encryption such as the algorithms used for HTTPS?

[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 months ago (1 children)

One time pads are perfect encryption, but the problem is that the key length needs to be longer than the message length. So if you have the ability to get the symmetric key to the recipient securely, then you had the ability to get the whole message to the recipient securely.

[–] robojeb 2 points 4 months ago

One time pads aren't really feasible at scale. Getting the pad (key) to your partner securely will involve moving it in meatspace.

If you tried to send the pad with some other encryption that becomes the weak point and defeats the pad.

You can't reuse the pad for multiple transmissions or you are vulnerable to analysis attacks.

You can't compress the pad and send it with remaining space of a previous pad because the pad has to be true random numbers and won't compress well so you will always come out behind.

They are great in theory, and in practice for a few fixed short form communications in emergency situations but I don't know of any practical way they could be used generally. Your bank isn't going to ship you a hard drive of random numbers for you to securely look at your account.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 months ago

What they actually do is record everything encrypted and wait for computers to get fast enough to crack it.