encryption with python?

[Robert Kern]

[Me:]
> Probably the simplest encryption module would be Paul Rubin's p3.py .
> It only requires the standard library.
>
> http://www.nightsong.com/phr/crypto/p3.py

[Ed Hotchkiss wrote:]
> Awesome. I just started Python today so I'd have no idea ... how good is
> this encryption compared to PGP?

I thought you were just playing around. If you're actually interested in
security, *don't* implement protocols yourself. There's more to security
than the encryption algorithm.

That said, it's Paul's own algorithm, so it hasn't been tested and
attacked as thoroughly as PGP's algorithms. It relies on the security of
the underlying hash. Unfortunately, that hash has been broken recently,
although I'm not sure if that break actually affects the security of how
it's used in this algorithm. Paul could tell you more.

> Any info on using this file? Didn't see
> any on this guys site ...

It's fairly straightforward. The _test() function should be
self-explanatory once you learn some more Python (which I suggest you do
before entrusting secure data to code that you write).

-- 
Robert Kern
rkern at ucsd.edu

"In the fields of hell where the grass grows high
 Are the graves of dreams allowed to die."
  -- Richard Harter