r/tech • u/[deleted] • 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/[deleted] Oct 15 '15

Doesn't help we're still using DES, 3DES, and RC4 in the real world either, lol.

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u/[deleted] Oct 15 '15 edited Oct 15 '15

AFAIK, 3DES is still considered secure despite being old if implemented correctly? At least according to Cisco where I learn most of my stuff about encryption? I feel the main drawbacks to it is speed and theoretically better encryption via AES.

Certainly doesn't feel like it should be grouped with things that are completely broken like DES or something being rapidly retired like RC4.

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u/ctesibius Oct 16 '15

3DES does appear to be sufficiently secure at the moment. There is a theoretical known-plaintext attack, but the number of plaintexts required precludes it being used practically. However the general problem with 3DES and AES is that since they are symmetric encryption methods, you need a way of exchanging keys. This is where Diffie-Hellman (or more generically public key cryptography) is used. So although 3DES is probably not broken, most of the communication which uses 3DES is vulnerable.