Kerchoff's principle

[Ariel Waissbein]

Look up his article "criptographie millitaire" (writen in 1883) at
http://www.tcs.hut.fi/~helger/crypto/link/history/index.html
it is quite interesting.

the prnciple basically states that a cryptographic protocol's
security should not relay on the knowledge of how does the 
protocol itself is, e.g., you should always suppose that the
algorithms and related data used during the protocol's execution
(other than specific private data such as private keys) are known
to the attackers.

This principle is considered a MUST in the construcion of 
cryptographic protocols and primitives.

Ariel

GANATRA CHETAN /INFRA/INFOTECH wrote:
> 
> Can any one tell me whats Kerchoff's principle
> 
> .chetan
> 
> [Moderator's note: It is a set of principles, actually, about how to
> build crypto systems that are secure. The most important is that you
> must assume that the adversary will eventually learn the details of
> your cryptographic algorithms, so the security of the system must rest
> entirely in the key selected and not in the details of the algorithm. --Perry]

-- 
====================[ CORE Security Technologies ]==================
Ariel Waissbein
Researcher - Corelabs

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email :  ariel_waissbein at corest.com
http://www.corest.com
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