Crypt::TripleDES and public/private keys

[Steve]

I've been asked to look into TripleDES encryption for a project, and
have what may sound like a silly newbie question. Is TripleDES based on
a public-key / private-key kind of setup, such as PGP? I notice that
the documentation for Perl's "Crypt::TripleDES" module only involves
three input parameters... the plaintext to be encrypted, or the
cyphertext to be decrypted, and a passphrase. There is no reference
whatsoever to telling the module about a public or private key.

Is this really all there is to it, and communicating with another party
via TripleDES means that you have to exchange and store the common
passphrase in some other secure means?

 

[A. Sinan Unur]

I've been asked to look into TripleDES encryption for a project, and
have what may sound like a silly newbie question. Is TripleDES based on
a public-key / private-key kind of setup, such as PGP?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triple_DES

http://www.rsa.com/rsalabs/node.asp?id=2231

Sinan

 

[Steve]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triple_DES

http://www.rsa.com/rsalabs/node.asp?id=2231

Well, obviously I started my search with Google and Wikipedia, and
didn't find a direct answer to the question I asked. I understand that
Triple-DES involves a "key"... but is this simply referring to the
passphrase (used as a salt value), or is there a true public-key /
private-key exchange involved? If so, how does that factor in with
Perl's "Crypt::TripleDES" module... which only takes in as input the
string to encrypt/decrypt and a passphrase?

 

[Martijn Lievaart]

Well, obviously I started my search with Google and Wikipedia, and
didn't find a direct answer to the question I asked. I understand that

Two mouse clicks took me to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Symmetric_key_algorithm. But then, I knew what I was looking for.

HTH,
M4

 

[Steve]

.... but how does this relate back to Perl, through the
"Crypt::TripleDES" module? This module does not appear to take in a key
as any of its input parameters... just the text to be
encrypted/decrypted, and a passphrase. Is what "Crypt::TripleDES" calls
the "passphrase" actually the private key value that you're referring
to? I do appreciate all the background information, but is anyone out
there actually using this "Crypt::TripleDES" module in Perl?