Re: A matter of interest.

[Eryndlia Mavourneen <eryndlia@gmail.com>]

On Sunday, November 30, 2014 1:56:10 PM UTC-6, brbar...@gmail.com wrote:
> On Sunday, November 30, 2014 1:12:47 PM UTC-5, Simon Wright wrote:
> > brbarkstrom writes:
> > 
> > > I do not believe that a new cryptographic algorithm can be trusted
> > > until it has been published and attacked by competent cryptanalysts.
> > > The classic text is
> > >
> > > Schneier, B., 1996: Applied Cryptography: Protocols, Algorithms,
> > > and Source Code in C, John Wiley & Sons, New York, NY
> > >
> > > If the algorithm hasn't been published, the usual term would be
> > > "security by obscurity."  It doesn't work.
> > 
> > To be fair to Austin, he has published his work-in-progress.
> 
> Fair enough.  However, I think he should use the available Ada versions
> of standard encryption algorithms.  Those will save his time and worries
> about security by the user community.  While I have a PhD in astronomy and 
> had several years of advanced math as an undergraduate, I do not have the 
> mathematical qualifications to build a new encryption algorithm.  Folks
> who do that kind of work need to have a very deep understanding of number
> theory and related subjects.  'Nuff said.
> 
> Bruce B.

As I recall, the situation is reversed:  Austin is a mathematician and not a programmer much less a professional Ada developer.