From: "Rev. Ben" <samman@CS.YALE.EDU>
Date: Fri, 14 Jul 95 06:53:15 PDT
To: "Ed Carp [khijol Sysadmin]" <erc@khijol.intele.net>
Subject: Re: OTP server..
In-Reply-To: <Pine.3.89.9507131817.A10819-0100000@khijol>
Message-ID: <Pine.A32.3.91.950714095006.11806M-100000@JAGUAR.ZOO.CS.YALE.EDU>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


On Thu, 13 Jul 1995, Ed Carp [khijol Sysadmin] wrote:

> On Fri, 14 Jul 1995, Black Unicorn wrote:
> 
> > >How about WWW one time pad servers? You browse to your
> > >favorite OTP server, which has a random number generator
> > >running in the background. You tell it to give you a block
> > >of X bytes, and mail it to persons 1, 2, 3, ... N.
> > 
> > I think you're trusting the server a GREAT deal.
> 
> Why is that?  The randomness of the data can be easily checked...

Because if the server is compromised to KEEP the data that it mails to 
you and those other people, you can have a PERFECTLY random OTP, and 
because of the particulars of XOR, your communication has been compromised.

Ben.
____
Ben Samman..............................................samman@cs.yale.edu
I have learned silence from the talkative, toleration from the intolerant,
and kindness from the unkind; yet, strange, I am ungrateful to those 
teachers.-- K. Gibran. SUPPORT THE PHIL ZIMMERMANN LEGAL DEFENSE FUND!
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