From: Simon Spero <ses@tipper.oit.unc.edu>
Date: Mon, 22 Jan 96 10:36:02 PST
To: "Roy M. Silvernail" <roy@sendai.cybrspc.mn.org>
Subject: Re: (none)
In-Reply-To: <960122.061235.3y2.rnr.w165w@sendai.cybrspc.mn.org>
Message-ID: <Pine.SOL.3.91.960122103704.6658B-100000@chivalry>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


On Mon, 22 Jan 1996, Roy M. Silvernail wrote:

> -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
> 
> > Note that RSA normally is used as probabilistic encryption: encrypt the
> > same plaintext twice, and you'll likely get two different ciphertexts.
> 
> I think you're confusing PGP's use of random session keys and random
> padding with actual RSA encryption.  Using RSA alone on a given
> plaintext will always give you the same ciphertext.

RSA used in a raw mode will always give the same plaintext for the same 
cyphertext; however most uses of RSA use (or at least should use) PKCS1 
random padding - thus the plaintext passed to RSA will be different each 
time.

Simon