I im taking cryptography classes and learned that the key size of DES is 64 bits. So if the key is array of Alphabetic char, and 1 char takes 8 bits then 64/8 = 8 . So the key can be only 8 char long maximum. Example : aaaaaaaa or acacacac
But when i used openssl to encrypt data using DES it accepts keys more then 8 char long.
root@io:~# openssl enc -des -in data -out data.enc
enter des-cbc encryption password: aseaxsasceaceasxaeaxsaceac
Verifying - enter des-cbc encryption password:aseaxsasceaceasxaeaxsaceac
root@io:~# openssl enc -d -des -in data.enc -out data.plain
enter des-cbc decryption password:aseaxsasceaceasxaeaxsaceac
And it accepts even more long keys then i posted here.
1) So my question is what does key size (64 bit) in DES means what point im missing .
And
2)If key can be just 64 bit long really then how much time does it takes to crack a 64 bit key if plain text and cipher text is known