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by danielrm26 5685 days ago
I'm the author and I wouldn't say I am a crypto guy, but the conceptual difference between RSA and DH is clear to me, and I defend the proposition that it should be for others in infosec as well.

Can you explain where this is in error?
2 comments
tptacek 5685 days ago
I can't speak for the parent comment, but saying that "Diffie-Hellman" is a good answer to the problem of establishing a secure channel over an untrusted medium is like saying "plutonium" is a good answer to the problem of submarine propulsion.
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JoachimSchipper 5685 days ago
It's a category error to those well-versed in cryptography, like "explain the difference between mergesort and recursion" - two unrelated concepts. (Whereas "explain the difference between quicksort and mergesort" is an interesting question.)

Your answer also does not sufficiently differentiate between e.g. key agreement (DH), message authentication ("signing"; HMAC), symmetric encryption (AES), or asymmetric encryption and signing (RSA).

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