[Fwd: Re: Non-repudiation (was RE: The PAIN mnemonic)]

Ben Laurie ben at algroup.co.uk
Mon Jan 5 11:40:37 EST 2004


Ian Grigg wrote:
> Which leaves the issue of what we call the property that
> differentiates a private key signature from a MAC or MD?

A private key signature can only be produced by the holder of the 
private key, and can be verified by anyone (who has the public key). 
That is, it is asymmetric, just like PK encryption is. MACs and MDs (if 
keyed at all) use a shared secret, and thus behave like symmetric crypto.

Cheers,

Ben.

-- 
http://www.apache-ssl.org/ben.html       http://www.thebunker.net/

"There is no limit to what a man can do or how far he can go if he
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