[OTR-users] DH moduli & AES keysize

[Joel Mawhorter]

On Tue, 29 Mar 2005 16:09:56 -0500
Jason Cohen <jcohen07 at brandeis.edu> wrote:

> The WPES 2004 paper states that under the current protocol a person can
> send and receive up to 18 messages per second (36 messages total) on a
> 450 mhz Pentium IIII. Thus, it would seem that even on a slow machine
> 2048 bit DH moduli wouldn't add a great deal of latency. 450 mhz
> machines are also on the low end of what is generally used for desktops.
> Most PCs are 2-3 years old and 450 mhz processors are at least 4-5 if I
> remember correctly.

Don't forget that many of the people who are in situations where the need for OTR is most important do not have access to the latest (or maybe even 4-5 year old) hardware. I'm sure people with fast desktop machines make up the majority of current OTR users but how many of them use OTR because they fear torture and death from oppressive governments?

As well, if OTR will ever be used for instant messaging on portable devices, making OTR require a lot more computational power is probably not a good idea.

Joel

> Does anyone happen to have performance tests for 2048 or 3072 bit DH
> moduli. Could I test this myself?
> 
> Jason
>