Re:Not every elliptic curve is the same: trough on ECC secur...
by tux3 on Thursday August 04, 2016 @12:12PM
(#12226514)
This article is interesting, but it found it striking that it made absolutely no mention of Curve25519 [0], which has become quite popular today as an replacement for P-256 and co.
Perhaps things would have been different had the article not been written 3 years before the Dual EC backdoor fiasco.
Re:Not every elliptic curve is the same: trough on ECC secur...
by divbit on Thursday August 04, 2016 @12:42PM
(#12226756)
I think what the root comment is referencing is that the dual EC standard being possibly compromised has made people take a closer look at NIST standards related to their curves.
Re:Not every elliptic curve is the same: trough on ECC secur...
by tptacek on Thursday August 04, 2016 @12:38PM
(#12226717)
This is not an especially useful analysis. In particular, few specialists in 2016 would make decisions based on which standards bodies support a given curve.
Re:Not every elliptic curve is the same: trough on ECC secur...
by tptacek on Thursday August 04, 2016 @12:37PM
(#12226712)
We don't want to move to it because it's "more trusted". We want it because it's a better curve. Most critically: for the most common applications, Curve25519 avoids the need for point validation, eliminating a class of vulnerabilities. It's also much easier to implement in constant time.
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curve25519
There's a nice table showing which curves are safe and which curves are not.
Edit: Curve25519 may have been unheard of in 2010.
This "analysis" just isn't good at all.
My personal acid test to quickly check the worthiness of a page discussing crypto standards : whether IPsec is spelled correctly.