Which encryption of these three is best?

[Kulin Remailer]

My version of PGP (ver. 6.5) gives me the choices of CAST, IDEA or
TripleDES.

Which one of the above is the best choice to encrypt important docs I have?

Ever since the DRAM trick of cracking virtual drives such as Drive
Crypt, I figure that I will go with simply encrypting a file instead of
trusting a virtual drive.

Since I want to cover all bases, I am assuming that at some point my
computer will fall into other hands and my key compromised. So, I am
wondering if it would be just as well not to encyrpt to a key, but
simply ecrypt the docs with a multi word passphrase of over 30+ words
derived from Diceware. (I have used this passphrase for some years.) It
exists only in my memory. The documents are such that it would be better
that I forget the passphrase than the encryption be broken by others.

Thank you.

[Kulin Remailer]

Post by Kulin Remailer
My version of PGP (ver. 6.5) gives me the choices of CAST, IDEA or
TripleDES.
Which one of the above is the best choice to encrypt important docs
I >have?
Ever since the DRAM trick of cracking virtual drives such as Drive
Crypt, I figure that I will go with simply encrypting a file instead
of trusting a virtual drive.
Since I want to cover all bases, I am assuming that at some point my
computer will fall into other hands and my key compromised. So, I am
wondering if it would be just as well not to encyrpt to a key, but
simply ecrypt the docs with a multi word passphrase of over 30+
words derived from Diceware. (I have used this passphrase for some
years.) It exists only in my memory. The documents are such that it
would be better that I forget the passphrase than the encryption be
broken by others.
Thank you.

I have sinced learned that this Cold Boot password recovery is not
possible when you dismount the virtual drives and kill the power to the
computer. It seems the problem is when you leave the computer running in
'sleep' or other modes - which I don't.

I would still like an opinion regarding the better of the 3 modes of
encryption I mentioned, though.

Thanks.

[Bernhard Kuemel]

Post by Kulin Remailer
My version of PGP (ver. 6.5) gives me the choices of CAST, IDEA or
TripleDES.

I don't know. CAST (128 or 256?) was among the candidates for AES but
was not among 'not among the five AES finalists', says wikipedia. IDEA
has been around quite long (since the beginning of PGP, IIRC), so on the
positive side it has resisted attacks for a long time. OTOH there sure
has been cryptographic progress and newer ciphers might be better.
TripleDES was made to fix DES which had too small keys. Dunno how strong
it is. IIRC it's slow, but I may be wrong.

I'd use GPG and AES (formerly known as Rijndael). Wikipedia: 'The AES
ciphers have been analyzed extensively and are now used worldwide, as
was the case with its predecessor,[3] the Data Encryption Standard
(DES).' So appearently TripleDES is not as good as AES.

One point why Rijndael was chosen as AES was because it is suitable for
smart cards (fast, small). That might mean, other bigger/slower ciphers
might be stronger. AES is going to be used a lot, so any flaws may
become known publicly sooner. Other ciphers might be broken secretly by
your adversaries long before the public or you learn about that fact.

Post by Kulin Remailer
years.) It exists only in my memory. The documents are such that it
would be better that I forget the passphrase than the encryption be
broken by others.

If a powerful adversary is after your documents you should be fucking
careful they don't install a key logger (hard or software) or capture
you typing the pass phrase with a spy camera, etc. That is usually much
easier than breaking a strong cipher.

Bernhard

[Bernhard Kuemel]

Post by Bernhard Kuemel
I'd use GPG and AES (formerly known as Rijndael).

Ohh, it appears GPG uses CAST5 (CAST 128) by default, so actually I use
that.

Bernhard

[David W. Hodgins]

Post by Bernhard Kuemel
Ohh, it appears GPG uses CAST5 (CAST 128) by default, so actually I use
that.

As none of the three have any known attacks likely to work, the decision
should be made based on non-cryptographic reasons.

I'd choose cast5, as idea is still subject to patents, and is not available
in all versions, and triple des is much slower than cast5.

Regards, Dave Hodgins