this post was submitted on 25 Sep 2026
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Most of us don't have control over the public keys we use. We connect to a web site with a browser, and the server supplies the public key.
If you want public keys for your own purposes, I guess nothing stops you from generating 4096 bit (or whatever) ECC keys. Of course the arithmetic will be slow.
If you're really paranoid about potential math advances affecting ECC and/or RSA, then you may be best off avoiding public key schemes altogether. Just use secret keys, and maybe Merkle tree signatures.
You mean symmetric keys? They're great, but they aren't terribly practical in MANY application scenarios.
They can be less convenient, yes, but a situation where you need truly public keys is probably not that secure to begin with. If you're just trying to talk to your friends from your tree house, symmetric encryption is completely practical, including using something like DUKPT for forward secrecy.
A banking website?