Re: Key safety vs Backup : History of a bad day (key-restoration problem)

2007-10-28 Thread Robert J. Hansen
Atom Smasher wrote: > not having a particular aptitude towards higher math Shamir's protocol revolves around being given two points on a grid and drawing a line between them. This is not higher math. This is why it's described as "amazingly simple". > and not being fluent at programming C Nobo

Re: Key safety vs Backup

2007-10-28 Thread vedaal
>Message: 7 >Date: Mon, 29 Oct 2007 00:27:48 +1300 (NZDT) >From: Atom Smasher <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Subject: Re: Key safety vs Backup : History of a bad day > (key-restorationproblem) >>> even with a reasonably strong pass-phrase i wouldn't want to >walk >>> around with my secret k

Re: Key safety vs Backup : History of a bad day (key-restoration problem)

2007-10-28 Thread Sven Radde
Atom Smasher schrieb: > 2) AFAIK the shamir secret sharing protocol is great in theory, but there > just aren't any practical ways to use it (read: applications). IIRC it is implemented in PGP. (Maybe in the commercial/corporate versions only, and maybe not that particular protocol but they have

Re: Key safety vs Backup : History of a bad day (key-restoration problem)

2007-10-28 Thread Atom Smasher
On Sun, 28 Oct 2007, Robert J. Hansen wrote: > At this point it's abundantly clear to me that you've never learned how > Shamir's scheme works. I don't know how to make a case for Shamir's > scheme to someone who doesn't care how it works, only that their > prejudice is that it's bad. > > So f

Re: Key safety vs Backup : History of a bad day (key-restoration problem)

2007-10-28 Thread Robert J. Hansen
Atom Smasher wrote: > would that be the same PGP(tm) Corporation that, last i checked, made > source code available for review but only licensed the use of pre-compiled > binaries? This would be the PGP Corporation that allows you to download and compile their source code so that you can run you

Re: Key safety vs Backup : History of a bad day (key-restoration problem)

2007-10-28 Thread Atom Smasher
On Sun, 28 Oct 2007, Robert J. Hansen wrote: > Atom Smasher wrote: >> i wouldn't generally advocate a vernam cipher for encrypting messages, >> but i think it is the best real-world-practical way to do secret >> sharing (at least until someone builds an application that ~uses~ a >> real secret

Re: Key safety vs Backup : History of a bad day (key-restoration problem)

2007-10-28 Thread Atom Smasher
On Sun, 28 Oct 2007, Robert J. Hansen wrote: > If you are comfortable with the NSA and/or GCHQ wondering why you've got > AES-encrypted data hidden in a JPEG that's floating around the internet, > then go ahead with this. = i wouldn't be any more concerned than i am now, with non-hi

Re: Key safety vs Backup : History of a bad day (key-restoration problem)

2007-10-28 Thread Robert J. Hansen
Atom Smasher wrote: > i wouldn't generally advocate a vernam cipher for encrypting messages, but > i think it is the best real-world-practical way to do secret sharing (at > least until someone builds an application that ~uses~ a real secret > sharing algorithm). See _The Art of Computer Progra

Re: Key safety vs Backup : History of a bad day (key-restoration problem)

2007-10-28 Thread Robert J. Hansen
Atom Smasher wrote: > but this has me thinking... why not combine the "hidden in plain sight" > part with the encrypted part using steganography... use a reasonably > strong passphrase ("reasonable" depends on the needs of the end user) for > your secret key, then hide it in a JPG and post it in

Re: Key safety vs Backup : History of a bad day (key-restoration problem)

2007-10-28 Thread Atom Smasher
On Sun, 28 Oct 2007, Atom Smasher wrote: responding to self... > even with a reasonably strong pass-phrase i wouldn't want to walk around > with my secret key on a flash-drive with my physical keys, but hidden in > a JPG of family/friends/pets it would be easily overlooked if i lost > possessi

Re: Key safety vs Backup : History of a bad day (key-restoration problem)

2007-10-28 Thread Atom Smasher
On Sun, 28 Oct 2007, Robert J. Hansen wrote: > Ack! Ack! One time pads! Ack! > > I really, really wish the Vernam cipher was either lesser known or > better known. If it was lesser known, fewer people would advise ever > using it. If it was better known, more people would understand its >

Re: Key safety vs Backup : History of a bad day (key-restoration problem)

2007-10-28 Thread Atom Smasher
On Sun, 28 Oct 2007, Sven Radde wrote: > Atom Smasher schrieb: > >> in theory, if you're *really* using a strong pass-phrase, you can >> publish your private key in a public place and rest secure in the >> knowledge that no known technology can break your 100+ character >> pass-phrase... and if

Re: Key safety vs Backup : History of a bad day (key-restoration problem)

2007-10-28 Thread Robert J. Hansen
Just to head a question off at the pass... Sven Radde wrote: >> Q1: I have the public key (0x26A2F0AE if it's of any use), i know the >> secret key passphrase perfectly. Is there any way i could re-compute / >> restore / whatever the secret part using this information ? > > No. The passphrase is

Re: Key safety vs Backup : History of a bad day (key-restoration problem)

2007-10-28 Thread Atom Smasher
On Sun, 28 Oct 2007, Nicolas Pillot wrote: > You might call me paranoid, but i just did so to avoid the potential > trouble some people were having on the forum. = seems like reasonable things to do... > I mounted it, read-only, or, well tried to mount it. After a big > *s

Re: Key safety vs Backup : History of a bad day (key-restoration problem)

2007-10-28 Thread Sven Radde
Atom Smasher schrieb: > in theory, if you're *really* using a strong pass-phrase, you can publish > your private key in a public place and rest secure in the knowledge that > no known technology can break your 100+ character pass-phrase... and if a > hard drive or several go up in smoke you can

Re: Key safety vs Backup : History of a bad day (key-restoration problem)

2007-10-28 Thread Robert J. Hansen
Atom Smasher wrote: > in theory, if you're *really* using a strong pass-phrase, you can > publish your private key in a public place and rest secure in the > knowledge that no known technology can break your 100+ character > pass-phrase... and if a hard drive or several go up in smoke you can > rec

Re: Key safety vs Backup : History of a bad day (key-restoration problem)

2007-10-28 Thread Sven Radde
Hi! Nicolas Pillot schrieb: > Here comes the Sad-result-of-a-cursed-day : > - i have lost the digital versions of my .gnupg, ascii pub/priv keys > due to a failing usb stick which hadn't been used for 5+ years. > - this means i have lost all my encrypted data (mainly accounting > information, rea