09-20-2005, 03:21 PM
The bit number in an encryption refers to the key lenght..
It has actually little to do with how safe the encryption actually is..
A 64bit encryption could very well be safer than a 2048bit one.. as it plays down to the actuall algorithm too.. which, sadly, many modern crypto programs keep hidden..
A good encryption is safe even if the "hacker" has access to the full sourcecode..
And ya, modern encryptions use two extremely high prime numbers multiplied together to create the final key..
There's some research that is pointing towards this being a bad way though, as there might be an algorithm for finding prime numbers more efficient than the current ones of testing each number up to the one you want..
I can't remember the website that has the research data though, do a google if you're interessted.. It was reported on the news here in sweden a few years ago..
It has actually little to do with how safe the encryption actually is..
A 64bit encryption could very well be safer than a 2048bit one.. as it plays down to the actuall algorithm too.. which, sadly, many modern crypto programs keep hidden..
A good encryption is safe even if the "hacker" has access to the full sourcecode..
And ya, modern encryptions use two extremely high prime numbers multiplied together to create the final key..
There's some research that is pointing towards this being a bad way though, as there might be an algorithm for finding prime numbers more efficient than the current ones of testing each number up to the one you want..
I can't remember the website that has the research data though, do a google if you're interessted.. It was reported on the news here in sweden a few years ago..