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Re: Essay on PGP as it is used today [ In reply to ]
Again, Signal is touted as better than PGP.Why?Look at this problem
with signal. Looks really serious.
Signal Desktop Leaves Message Decryption Key in Plain Sight
https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/signal-desktop-leaves-message-decryption-key-in-plain-sight/

I don't think PGP does THIS !
Elwin
Sent using Hushmail
On 7/22/2019 at 7:53 PM, "Ryan McGinnis via Gnupg-users" wrote:I’m
not so sure that it does. I think that’s the point security
researchers like Schneier have been trying to make: it is easy for all
people — from grandparents who still think they need AOL to
chipheads who can install Arch without watching a YouTube tutorial —
to screw up encrypted email in a way that exposes the cleartext.
Encrypted email is fundamentally unsafe as it currently exists.
It’s really hard to screw up some of the new E2E encrypted
messengers. Sure, if your method for secure communications is
dropping stego’d memes with encrypted payloads on imgur, then simple
tools like Signal and WhatsApp won’t do. But if you’re trying to
securely communicate like a normal person who is not pretending to be
Mister Robot, then PGP for email is one of the least adopted, least
safe ways to do so and Signal/iMessage/WhatsApp are decent solutions.

-Ryan McGinnis
https://bigstormpicture.com
PGP: 5C73 8727 EE58 786A 777C 4F1D B5AA 3FA3 486E D7AD
Sent with ProtonMail
Sent from ProtonMail Mobile

On Mon, Jul 22, 2019 at 15:00, Mark H. Wood via Gnupg-users wrote:
On Mon, Jul 22, 2019 at 03:46:18PM +0000, Ryan McGinnis via
Gnupg-users wrote:
>
[1]https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2018/05/details_on_a_ne.html
>
> 3. Why is anyone using encrypted e-mail anymore, anyway?
Reliably and
> easily encrypting e-mail is an insurmountably hard problem for
reasons
> having nothing to do with today's announcement. If you need to
> communicate securely, use Signal. If having Signal on your phone
will
> arouse suspicion, use WhatsApp.

Depends on your threat model. For mine, reliably and easily
encrypting email is almost absurdly simple:

1) Use PGP
2) Don't send secrets to people I don't trust to keep them.

Anyway, 99% of my PGP use is for the opposite of secrecy: I sign my
emails so that (if you care enough to install PGP) you can be highly
assured that they're from me.

--
Mark H. Wood
Lead Technology Analyst

University Library
Indiana University - Purdue University Indianapolis
755 W. Michigan Street
Indianapolis, IN 46202
317-274-0749
www.ulib.iupui.edu
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Re: Essay on PGP as it is used today [ In reply to ]
It seems kinda cheeky to find one (fixed) bug in the least secure implementation of the program and act like that disqualifies it.  All programs have bugs.  Most implementations of GPG have had some pretty bad bugs over the years.  No programs are going to be free of security flows - the question is whether the app or platform was built with security as a priority and what happens when those flaws are discovered.  I'd argue Signal was built with security it mind and that they're pretty swift at fixing issues as they arise. 

Also, not that it makes the bug any less impactful, but I know very few people who make regular use of the desktop implementation of Signal; it's mostly meant for mobile devices. 

-Ryan McGinnis
https://bigstormpicture.com
PGP: 5C73 8727 EE58 786A 777C 4F1D B5AA 3FA3 486E D7AD
Sent with ProtonMail

??????? Original Message ???????
On Tuesday, July 23, 2019 3:32 AM, <mercuryrising@hush.ai> wrote:

> Again, Signal is touted as better than PGP.
> Why?
> Look at this problem with signal. Looks really serious.
>

> Signal Desktop Leaves Message Decryption Key in Plain Sight
> https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/signal-desktop-leaves-message-decryption-key-in-plain-sight/
>

> I don't think PGP does THIS !
>

> Elwin
>

> Sent using Hushmail
>

> On 7/22/2019 at 7:53 PM, "Ryan McGinnis via Gnupg-users" <gnupg-users@gnupg.org> wrote:
>

> > I’m not so sure that it does.  I think that’s the point security researchers like Schneier have been trying to make: it is easy for all people — from grandparents who still think they need AOL to chipheads who can install Arch without watching a YouTube tutorial — to screw up encrypted email in a way that exposes the cleartext.   Encrypted email is fundamentally unsafe as it currently exists.  It’s really hard to screw up some of the new E2E encrypted messengers.  Sure, if your method for secure communications is dropping stego’d memes with encrypted payloads on imgur, then simple tools like Signal and WhatsApp won’t do.  But if you’re trying to securely communicate like a normal person who is not pretending to be Mister Robot, then PGP for email is one of the least adopted, least safe ways to do so and Signal/iMessage/WhatsApp are decent solutions.  
> >

> > -Ryan McGinnis
> > https://bigstormpicture.com
> > PGP: 5C73 8727 EE58 786A 777C 4F1D B5AA 3FA3 486E D7AD
> > Sent with ProtonMail
> >

> > Sent from ProtonMail Mobile
> >

> > On Mon, Jul 22, 2019 at 15:00, Mark H. Wood via Gnupg-users <gnupg-users@gnupg.org> wrote:
> >

> > > On Mon, Jul 22, 2019 at 03:46:18PM +0000, Ryan McGinnis via Gnupg-users wrote:
> > > > [1]https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2018/05/details_on_a_ne.html
> > > >
> > > > 3. Why is anyone using encrypted e-mail anymore, anyway? Reliably and
> > > > easily encrypting e-mail is an insurmountably hard problem for reasons
> > > > having nothing to do with today's announcement. If you need to
> > > > communicate securely, use Signal. If having Signal on your phone will
> > > > arouse suspicion, use WhatsApp.
> > >

> > > Depends on your threat model. For mine, reliably and easily
> > > encrypting email is almost absurdly simple:
> > >

> > > 1) Use PGP
> > > 2) Don't send secrets to people I don't trust to keep them.
> > >

> > > Anyway, 99% of my PGP use is for the opposite of secrecy: I sign my
> > > emails so that (if you care enough to install PGP) you can be highly
> > > assured that they're from me.
> > >

> > > --
> > > Mark H. Wood
> > > Lead Technology Analyst
> > >

> > > University Library
> > > Indiana University - Purdue University Indianapolis
> > > 755 W. Michigan Street
> > > Indianapolis, IN 46202
> > > 317-274-0749
> > > www.ulib.iupui.edu
> > > _______________________________________________
> > > Gnupg-users mailing list
> > > Gnupg-users@gnupg.org
> > > http://lists.gnupg.org/mailman/listinfo/gnupg-users
Re: Essay on PGP as it is used today [ In reply to ]
On 7/22/2019 at 7:12 AM, "Robert J. Hansen" <rjh@sixdemonbag.org> wrote:

>Mathematicians have come up with different ways to estimate how
>many
>primes there were under a certain value
...
>The first estimate for ?(x) was "x divided by the natural
>logarithm of x".
...
>If we do that same equation for a 2048-bit key, it turns out there
>are
>10 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000
>000
>000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000
>000 000
>000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000
>000 000
>000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000
>000 000
>000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000
>000 000
>000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000
>000 000
>000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000
>000 000
>000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000
>000 000
>000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000
>000 000
>000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000
>000 000
>000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000
>000 000
>000 000 000 000 000 000 000 different prime numbers that could go
>into it.

=====

not really, for GnuPG keys, but for the default size GnuPG key of 4096, it's actually bigger than the number you quoted above ;-)

For a GnuPG key of 4096, it's only necessary to compute for primes up to 2^2048.

But,

Since GnuPG uses 2 primes only in the 2^2048 size, for a 4096 bit key,
then the amount of primes is actually:

[ (2^2048) / ln(2^2048) ] - [ (2^2047) / ln (2^2047) ] = 1.37 x 10^613


So, not to worry about someone creating a 'database' to crack GnuPG ...


vedaal


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Re: Essay on PGP as it is used today [ In reply to ]
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA512

Hi


On Wednesday 24 July 2019 at 2:36:36 AM, in
<mid:20190724013636.4B681E0792@smtp.hushmail.com>, vedaal via
Gnupg-users wrote:-


> but for the default size GnuPG key of 4096,

The default key size is 2048. That is the size generated if you use
the --quick-generate-key command.

- --
Best regards

MFPA <mailto:2017-r3sgs86x8e-lists-groups@riseup.net>

Man is not a rational animal, he is a rationalising animal.
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