From: eric@... (Eric Lee Green)
Date: 2002-01-23T05:32:42+09:00
Subject: Re: [OT] Re: zip on Linux (or any other *nix)

In article <20020122091008.GE3818@mossad>, Niklas Frykholm wrote:
> The reason for the compress-first-then-encrypt rule is thus not to
> increase protection. It is just that if you did it the other way around
> you would not get any compression.

True. No compression algorithm can compress random data, and the
output from an encryption algorithm should ideally look like
random data. 

The biggest threat to encryption algorithms nowdays is the dreaded
"rubber hose attack", otherwise referred to as "practical key
extraction". For example, in Britain, refusing to provide the key
means you go to jail until such time as you feel like providing said
key. 

-- 
Eric Lee Green       eric@badtux.org    http://www.badtux.org
    GnuPG public key at http://badtux.org/eric/eric.gpg
            BadTux: Linux Penguin Gone Bad