Mailing List Archive: key storage

key storage

Apr 14, 2000, 1:54 PM

Post #1 of 4 (553 views)

Reading through a new book I just received "Practical Unix & Internet
Security," I found a statement about taking much time into learning
about encryption and public key cryptography, don't go ahead and keep
your key rings in your home directory.

If you don't keep them local, where would you keep them, other then an
encrypted filesystem?

---
/helfman
"At any given moment, you may find the ticket to the circus that has
always been in your possession."

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Re: key storage [ In reply to ]

ats at acm

Apr 14, 2000, 2:20 PM

Post #2 of 4 (551 views)

Permalink

Jason Helfman <jgh@megsinet.net> writes:

> If you don't keep them local, where would you keep them, other then an
> encrypted filesystem?

A floppy disk, cdrom, compact flash or pcmcia memory card you carried
with you and removed when it wasn't in use?

--
Alan Shutko <ats@acm.org> - In a variety of flavors!
210 days, 18 hours, 14 minutes, 34 seconds till we run away.
"I am Curly of Borg. Resistance and assimilation is Nyuk, Nyuk, Nyuk!"

Re: key storage [ In reply to ]

ftobin at uiuc

Apr 14, 2000, 2:33 PM

Post #3 of 4 (548 views)

Permalink

Jason Helfman, at 15:54 -0500 on Fri, 14 Apr 2000, wrote:

> If you don't keep them local, where would you keep them, other then an
> encrypted filesystem?

Removable drives (e.g., floppy), or other input devices such as serial
ports provide a decent means of having an 'air-wall' between your secret
keys and the OpenPGP application when they are not in use. There are a
whole bunch of fun/exotic/paranoid measures one could go to to protect
one's secret keys. Lots of them cut down on your productivity,
though. Pick your favorite game.

--
Frank Tobin http://www.uiuc.edu/~ftobin/

"To learn what is good and what is to be valued,
those truths which cannot be shaken or changed." Myst: The Book of Atrus

Re: key storage [ In reply to ]

sungod at atdot

Apr 14, 2000, 2:33 PM

Post #4 of 4 (559 views)

Permalink

On Fri, Apr 14, 2000 at 05:20:57PM -0400, Alan Shutko (ats@acm.org) wrote:
> Jason Helfman <jgh@megsinet.net> writes:
>
> > If you don't keep them local, where would you keep them, other then an
> > encrypted filesystem?
>
> A floppy disk, cdrom, compact flash or pcmcia memory card you carried
> with you and removed when it wasn't in use?

This is a really good idea, and I didn't realize until you'd said it that it's (finally) not just possible but downright easy. Anybody know where I can get CD-R blanks that are credit-card sized, like the rescue discs LinuxCare makes? This would be perfect for storing keyrings.
--

Everything on television is fake.
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