[Cryptography] WireGuard

[Howard Chu]

Peter Gutmann wrote:
> Howard Chu <hyc at symas.com> writes:
> 
> I wasn't going to respond to this because it's so obviously wrong, but since
> someone else has now quoted it in a reply I'll comment on it...
> 
>> Why is that clever? Crypto algorithms have relatively short lifespans.
>> Without startup negotiation, whatever version of Wireguard you deploy today
>> will have to be completely thrown away within a few years. How are you going
>> to coordinate the deathmarch upgrades then?
> 
> What this should say is:
> 
>    Crypto algorithms have relatively short fashion lifespans.
> 
> I can take a set of algorithms that are between twenty-five and forty-five
> years old, all dating back to the dawn of history in terms of modern
> cryptography, and apply them to a perfectly secure crypto protocol [0].  Just
> because it's fashionable to switch to the trendiest new algorithms every few
> years doesn't mean the existing ones are any less secure, they're just not
> trendy any more.

Go ahead and propose a new crypto protocol built around single-DES then.
Or even triple-DES. Have fun with that.

-- 
   -- Howard Chu
   CTO, Symas Corp.           http://www.symas.com
   Director, Highland Sun     http://highlandsun.com/hyc/
   Chief Architect, OpenLDAP  http://www.openldap.org/project/