From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on inbox.vuxu.org X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=0.0 required=5.0 tests=none autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 Received: (qmail 22278 invoked from network); 2 Oct 2022 22:33:33 -0000 Received: from 9front.inri.net (168.235.81.73) by inbox.vuxu.org with ESMTPUTF8; 2 Oct 2022 22:33:33 -0000 Received: from icebubble.org ([174.136.103.210]) by 9front; Sun Oct 2 18:31:22 -0400 2022 Received: from petunia by icebubble.org with local-bsmtp (Exim 4.76) (envelope-from ) id 1of7Nk-0006bn-Rh for 9front@9front.org; Sun, 02 Oct 2022 22:24:20 +0000 Received: from rusat by cmarib.ramside with local (Exim 4.72) (envelope-from ) id 1of3cm-0003TG-Qb for 9front@9front.org; Sun, 02 Oct 2022 18:23:36 +0000 From: magma698hfsp273p9f@icebubble.org To: 9front@9front.org References: <8DCF165E26E87FA681256EFA7DDFDE8E@eigenstate.org> <3SV1D3BDX9GTI.2KFKQ4XBWIE2D@mforney.org> Date: Sun, 02 Oct 2022 18:23:26 +0000 In-Reply-To: <3SV1D3BDX9GTI.2KFKQ4XBWIE2D@mforney.org> (Michael Forney's message of "Tue, 27 Sep 2022 13:10:08 -0700") Message-ID: <864jwmf5k1.fsf@cmarib.ramside> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii List-ID: <9front.9front.org> List-Help: X-Glyph: ➈ X-Bullshit: descriptor app injection callback scripting generator Subject: [9front] Re: obsolete cryptographic algorithms Reply-To: 9front@9front.org Precedence: bulk Michael Forney writes: > ori@eigenstate.org wrote: >> Protocols still use them. > > What about the ones that aren't used by anything in 9front? I was > poking around libsec a while back and noticed that dsa and elgamal > are completely unused. > > Any reason to keep them around? Is there external plan9 software > out there that uses dsa or elgamal from libsec? THERE IS REALLY NO SUCH THING AS AN OBSOLETE CRYPTOGRAPHIC ALOGRITHM. I set that in caps because it demands emphasis. There are many old archives, network devices, and other systems which may (and do) employ older cryptographic technologies. Removing support from 9front would remove the ability to read/interact with legacy systems. I encountered this problem when some "obsolete" ciphers were removed from the Linux cryptoapi. I ended up having to re-implement one of them as a command- line utility in C, just so I could access data written using a prior version. As long as old machines, old software, and old data exists, there is really no such thing as an obsolete cryptographic alogrithm.