In message <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, Eric Murray writes:
>
>Why not send then a SDA that contains a copy of PGP, installs it,
>generates a key for the user, posts it to a keyserver, sets up the
>correct MIME content-type hooks in the user's browser, and then send
>them the real PGP-encrypted file 10 minutes later when they're equipped
>to deal with it?
>
>It's still not secure, but it's a lot less insecure than a SDA.
No, it's not, since it reinforces the habit of opening random pieces of
mobile code. (If nothing else, maybe the copy of PGP it installs has a
Trojan horse that exports the user's private key. But there are lots
of other threats here, and I don't think I need to point them out yet
again.)
Someone referred to my Web page on secure email. It's at
http://www.research.att.com/~smb/securemail.html, though only the last
few paragraphs deal with this question.
--Steve Bellovin
