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--- pgpfan:2048 [2020/08/05 20:03] – Stronger quantum statement. Minor changes. b.walzer
+++ pgpfan:2048 [2023/10/04 13:07] (current) – link to new, improved article b.walzer
@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 ======2048 Bit RSA Keys======
-If you generate a public/private keypair with a recent version of [[https://gnupg.org/|GnuPG]] you get a 2048 bit RSA key by default. That fact generates a surprising amount of angst.
+Since the creation of this article, there is now a much more detailed discussion of these issues available:
+[[em:20482030]]
+If you generate a public/private keypair with a recent version of [[https://gnupg.org/|GnuPG]] you get a 2048 bit RSA key by default ((The versions of GnuPG that are showing up in distributions are now (2021) defaulting to 3072 bit RSA. Nothing else has changed so this article is still otherwise relevant.)). That fact generates a surprising amount of angst.
 Currently (2020) the largest RSA key ever actually broken is 829 bits long(([[wp>RSA_Factoring_Challenge]])). Using a random cost off the net for AWS compute capacity the cost works out to around one million USD.
@@ Line 13: / Line 17: @@
 That is particularly true now that we are coming up against the hard physical limits of the silicon based technology we use for computing. [[wp>Moore's law]] is no longer useful for predicting future computing capability. Further significant progress will require a new technology; an invention. Such an invention could come anytime between now and never.
-Further improvements in software methods of breaking RSA will require an invention as well and the field has kind of gone cold. There have been no significant improvements in 15-10 years. A breakthrough could come any time between now and never.
+Further improvements in software methods of breaking RSA will require an invention as well and the field has kind of gone cold. There have been no significant improvements in 15-20 years. A breakthrough could come any time between now and never.
 A plan based on a future invention is no more than wishful thinking. There is no reason to think that more RSA bits could help in any way that would matter. There is no reason to think that another method would somehow be better. As a result I have no rational reason to not accept the default of 2048 bit RSA as suggested by GnuPG.