question about rsa encryption

[Matt Crawford]

> RSA is subject to blinding attacks and several other failure modes if
> used without padding.  For details on what that means, read the
> cyclopedia cryptologia article on RSA.
> 
> http://www.disappearing-inc.com/R/rsa.html

That brings on another amateur question. In that article it says,
"If the public exponent is less than a quarter of the modulus, RSA
can be insecure."

Well, the public exponents I've seen range from 17 to 65537. What
gives? Is this just one of the many weaknesses mitigated by proper
padding?


---------------------------------------------------------------------
The Cryptography Mailing List
Unsubscribe by sending "unsubscribe cryptography" to majordomo at wasabisystems.com