Re: [dnsext] historal root keys for upgrade path?

[Nicholas Weaver <[e-mail]>]

On Jan 31, 2011, at 11:32 AM, Brian Dickson wrote:

> On Mon, Jan 31, 2011 at 3:23 PM, Phillip Hallam-Baker <[e-mail]> wrote:
>> 
>> 
>> On Mon, Jan 31, 2011 at 1:22 PM, Brian Dickson
>> <[e-mail]> wrote:
> 
>>> The simplest bootstrap method would be to have a series of BSK
>>> (bootstrap keys), created on a periodic basis (every N years), and
>>> used as follows:
>> 
>> If a compromise has occurred then the first thing to ask would be why.
>> There are only three places where a compromise can logically occur - in the
>> cryptographic algorithm, in the cryptographic hardware manufacturer or in
>> ICANN,
> 
> No, there is a fourth place: brute force attack on the key/signature,
> to find the key.
> 
> The brute force success on one key, compromises that key only, plus
> any data signed by it or derived therefrom.

NO THERE IS NOT!

Repeat after me:

"If you are in even the remotest danger of a brute force attack by anything less than a cubic-earth of sci-fi nanotech, you need to use a larger key."

Cryptographic attacks may happen, which if it makes it possible to brute-force one key implies that the cryptosystem itself has broken.  

Brute force alone, outside the context of a cryptographic attack, WILL NOT HAPPEN.