Silk Road forums

Discussion => Newbie discussion => Topic started by: Ratsforthepoor on July 27, 2013, 01:15 pm

Title: 1024, 2048, 3072 or 4096 for PGP?
Post by: Ratsforthepoor on July 27, 2013, 01:15 pm
When I'm generating a new key pair, in the advance options, it gives me a pull down menu under the heading: Length.
The options are 1024, 2048, 3072 and 4096. Which should I choose?
Title: Re: 1024, 2048, 3072 or 4096 for PGP?
Post by: mcguire39 on July 27, 2013, 01:20 pm
Swing for the fences, go for the longest length. A long private key with a good strong password would theoretically take a lot longer to crack than a short key.
Title: Re: 1024, 2048, 3072 or 4096 for PGP?
Post by: Ratsforthepoor on July 27, 2013, 01:23 pm
Thanks man. That is kind of what i was assuming. So it's the norm for people to go for 4096?
Title: Re: 1024, 2048, 3072 or 4096 for PGP?
Post by: Ratsforthepoor on July 27, 2013, 01:58 pm
And what about an expiry date? should I make it expire? I don't really see why you would want it to expire.
Title: Re: 1024, 2048, 3072 or 4096 for PGP?
Post by: awkwardalchemist on July 27, 2013, 02:48 pm
I would stick with 2048, personally.  Nobody is going to be trying to crack your key.  It's much easier to slip around encryption than to bust through it.  And no, I wouldn't bother with an expiry date either.