Technical Summary
This document sets out an approximate equivalence between key lengths for
public key algorithms (i.e., RSA) and symmetric ciphers such as AES. More
precisely, it provides guidance on the proper public key modulus size to use
to achieve a comparable level of protection as a given symmetric cipher.
Working Group Summary
The recommendations here differ somewhat from NIST's numbers. However, all
such recommendations are at best approximations to the truth, given that
they rely on future advances in hardware and algorithm development. The
differences are thus not believed to be significant.
Protocol Quality
Steven M. Bellovin reviewed this document for the IESG.