04/26/2008Encryption method question?
- Ok I have a mac machine with osx and I can use 128 bit encryption for files. But why is it only 128 bit, my email is 2048bit so why wouldn't apple put a stronger encryption. also could 128 encryption be cracked by anyone. thanks
- Best Answer:The basics of encryption is that you have public and private keys and an algorithm that hashes them together with the inclusion of a passphrase. The keys themselves can be of varying sizes, from 512 bits, to 2048 bits, and even 4096 bits (locate your public or private key file and open it in a text editor). The algorithm itself uses a bit level size to hash them together, such as 128-bit or 256-bit. I would guess the 2048 bit part is the key size itself.
128-bit encryption is common for e-mail and should be fine to keep people from opening them as they bounce from one mail server to another. A very common encryption algorithm for SSL web information is RC4-128. I have heard it is theoretically crackable (any algorithm is), which I interpret to mean that it may not take alot of computing power to crack RC4-128.
Another algorithm is AES, or advanced encryption standard. Two variations are AES-128 and AES-256. Mozilla and Firefox can detect and use these. I'm not sure about IE v7, but I believe IE v6 can only interpret RC4-128. This alone is a strong reason why I do not use IE when I surf the Internet.
If you are using a different browser than those I mentioned, you will have to read up on them to find out what encryption algorithms they utilize.
- Answer:2048 bit encryption? WTF. Typical elitist mac user. Thinks they are so smart, but they are not. 128bit encryption is damn good.
- Answer:There is no 2048 bit encryption for email I don't think. 128 bit is nearly impossible to crack unless you intercept the headers of the message.
- Answer:90% of the net has 128 encryption guess they figured if people are smart enough they would invest in better programs