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Replacing RSA with elliptic-curve encryption?



I've been using RSA key-pairs in my application so far. But after some research, I'm considering switching to an elliptic-curve-based algorithm, because it uses much smaller keys for comparable security levels. This would make my certs and signed/encrypted data smaller*, and allow more headroom for moving to longer keys later for higher security. (The NSA is apparently doing the same, according to a paper on their website.)

My questions:

• To convert my CDSA/Keychain based code, do I just need to change the algorithm IDs (replacing RSA with FEE) and key sizes? Or are there other issues to consider?

• My app uses a 3rd party networking library that uses OpenSSL to implement SSL/TLS connections. Does OpenSSL (the version in 10.5) support the same ECC algorithm(s) as CDSA? I.e. can I use the same key- pairs with both?

Thanks,

—Jens

* Yes, shaving key lengths from 2048 down to 192 bits actually is a significant win in a few places in my app. I am stuffing keys and signed blobs into IP packets, which should be under 1500 bytes to avoid fragmentation. I'm also considering putting keys into barcodes (like QR-codes.)

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