On 1/31/02 11:24 AM, "Martin Redington" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:

> I think this is just a warning. DES only wants an 8 byte key, but you've
> passed it more than that many bytes ...
> 
> On Thursday, January 31, 2002, at 04:10 PM, Jeremy Schwartz wrote:
> 
>> I get the following error while trying to run a cgi
>> 
>>> keysize is greater than allowed keysize of 8 for cipher Crypt::DES -
>>> using only
>>> first 8 bytes at /Library/WebServer/CGI-Executables/verify_install.cgi
>>> line 272

Proper key generation is critical to using any good cryptography system.
You should NEVER use text that was inputed by a user as the actual key.

Two alternatives exist:

1) Run the keytext through MD5 or SHA to get your 8-byte key.  This is
   only minimally secure, but it does have the advantage of not requiring
   any sort of key management system.

2) Use the keytext as a passphrase to protect a randomly generated key is
   even better (if a bit more cumbersome).  Key management is needed here.

In both cases, force the user to input a relatively long keyphrase or
passphrase (much, much, longer than 8 bytes).

Cheers,
Rob

............................................................................
Robert S. Mah
Decibel Software, Inc.
[EMAIL PROTECTED]


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