From: Erle Greer <vagab0nd@sd.cybernex.net>
Date: Mon, 22 Jul 1996 03:35:40 +0800
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: Length of passphrase beneficial?
Message-ID: <2.2.32.19960721172615.006e6a64@mail.sd.cybernex.net>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


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Feel free to skip to 'Actual Question:' below.

I am one to succumb to the assumed benefits of overkill.  I like
the fact that everyone's use of crypto can cause each
individual transmission to become less suspicious to prying
eyes.  I would love knowing that the govt. spent billions of CPU
cycles on one of my transmissions only to find my softball
schedule.  We could lure them by making our subject lines
'Fertilizer-Bomb Recipe' or 'CHILDPORN.GIF Attached', not
condoning either, of course.

I have a 2048-bit PgP key and pseudorandom a/n character
generator, from which I chose a large passphrase similar to:

f4VnI1G1mGcwTZ1vGoyPwN4NLojF8Ee9ff1aicOGn87x0nwwHhJUo6XSYKEawRne
(Yes, cut-n-paste, but my only in-house threat is my wife.)

Actual Question:
Does the length and randomness of a passphrase contribute at all
to the overall security of a cryptosystem?

Thanks in advance!

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