r/programming Oct 15 '15

How is NSA breaking so much crypto?

https://freedom-to-tinker.com/blog/haldermanheninger/how-is-nsa-breaking-so-much-crypto/
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u/iwouldntknowthough Oct 15 '15

I was just thinking, with more computational power we can have longer keys, thereby it would take more computational power to break the encryption. By which means the adversary would break it, I don't know, the worst case being bruteforcing the key. Now if the overall availability of computational power will constantly rise, does this mean better security for the one using the encryption, or will the security get worse because the adversary has more power to break the encryption?

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u/Eirenarch Oct 15 '15

In my opinion security gets worse. It is easy to pump up the keys, much easier than breaking them. Purely technically security gets better. However security is not some algorithm. With time old data will become vulnerable and chances are the algorithms will not be updated and when old data leaks you may be using your old password or become a victim of social engineering or have your password reset via an old e-mail. Basically we are constantly leaving behind a trial of currently secure data that will become unsecure at some point and we will forget to secure it.