The Weakest Link in Many Cryptosystems - Part 2 of 2

The Weakest Link in Many Cryptosystems - Part 2 of 2

RSA, a short recap

In a public key scheme, and for the sake of simplicity, assume a public scheme based on encryption-decryption (as opposed to e.g. DSA, the Digital Signature Algorithm, where the digital signature generated by the secret key is verified to satisfy a mathematic equation using the corresponding public key), you have two mathematical functions, called keys, the secret key S and the public key P

The Weakest Link in Many Cryptosystems – Part 1 of 2

The Weakest Link in Many Cryptosystems – Part 1 of 2

Introduction

It is well-known and appreciated by most users - even if often ignored(!) - that if you choose a weak password, you are exposing yourself to various risks. Whether your password is used for encryption of confidential data or just for access control doesn't really matter, so let's assume for a minute that it is actually used to encrypt your data - or perhaps to encrypt a key that is used to encrypt your data. The situation you are in is that