AES HDD encryption was XOR

[William Allen Simpson]

Jerry Leichter wrote:
> ...
> accurately states that AES-128 is thought to be secure within the state 
> of current and expected cryptographic knowledge, it propagates the meme 
> of the "short key length of only 128 bits".  A key length of 128 bits is 
> beyond any conceivable brute force attack - in and of itself the only 
> kind of attack for which key length, as such, has any meaning.  But, as 
> always, "bigger *must* be better" - which just raises costs when it 
> leads people to use AES-256, but all too often opens the door for the 
> many snake-oil "super-secure" cipher systems using thousands of key bits.
>
Oh, say it ain't so! ;-)

In the NBC TV episode of /Chuck/ a couple of weeks ago, the NSA cracked
"a 512-bit AES cipher" on a flash drive "trying every possible key".
"Could be hours, could be days."  (Only minutes in TV land.)

http://www.nbc.com/Chuck/video/episodes/#vid=838461
(Chuck Versus The Fat Lady, 4th segment, at 26:19)

It's no wonder that folks are deluded, pop culture reinforces this.

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