ubuntu-phone team mailing list archive

[Dmitrijs Ledkovs <xnox@xxxxxxxxxx>]

On 18 July 2013 01:18, Daniel Clem <clem11388@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> NSA? Really? Before or after the recent hoopla with Verizon and others?
> Echoing another's point. Yes security has become a big hot word lately, and
> for good reason.
>
> Just a non-dev comment, I use SMS a lot. It depends who I'm talking to,
> when, and where.
>

I think Robert simply made a geeky joke here:

>>> for SMS you could do unix ROT 13 a few times
>>
>>
>> The NSA recommends doing it precisely 28 times for unbreakable security.

Since ROT13 is a simple Caesar cipher, no amount of rounds improve
it's security and one can easily and fairly quickly break it, even
using pen and paper.
Knowing in advance amount of rounds used, makes decrypting task less
of a secret =) hence above statement is a joke, since the reverse of
"unbreakable security" is achieved.
On a modern computer you can break it near instantly. I believe
encoding & cracking such algorithms are done as exercisers when doing
a beginners programming course.

Regards,

Dmitrijs.