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Age can't authenticate when encrypting to a public key because it doesn't support signatures. So don't use it in this mode unless you know what you are doing.

Age can't authenticate when encrypting to a public key because it doesn't support signatures. So don't use it in this mode unless you know what you are doing. Most people should just use GPG for stuff like this.

barsonme 5y ago
That’s the whole point. Cryptography tools should do one thing and do it well. Most of PGP’s problems stem from it including the kitchen sink. If you need signatures, use minisign.
- upofadown 5y ago
  The requirement for signatures to authenticate public key encryption is inherent. OpenPGP includes it because it is for all practical purposes mandatory. It isn't some sort of useless frill. This is public key cryptography 101 stuff...
tptacek 5y ago
Nobody should be using GnuPG casually; if you're still using it in 2021, you should have a really clear reason for doing so. You're virtually always better off using any other well-known tool. The reasons you've provided in the past for defaulting to GnuPG --- such as its avoidance of authenticated encryption being a good data recovery mechanism --- have, to put it gently, not seemed especially informed by cryptographic best practices. It seems like more of a social cause for you than an engineering decisions. Which is fine as far as it goes, but it'd be better if you were clearer about that.
- rvense 5y ago
  I use it indirectly with pass (passwordstore.org), which is one of the few security-related pieces of software I like. Do you have an opinion on that? I've never heard of age before, but it looks like a pass-like interface to it could be ejected in a few hours if one were so inclined. Is the antipathy towards GPG based on it being too easy to misuse/misapply, or is it because it's broken when used properly?
  - tptacek 5y ago
    I've heard nothing but good things about pass. There's also a pass that uses age now, which is I guess what I'd use if I was in the market for something like it. There's a point at which you're asking so little from your cryptosystem --- as is the case with local-only CLI password managers --- that it doesn't much matter that you're using PGP. I don't, like, recoil from .pgp.asc files! The place you really get in trouble with PGP is when you try to use it on email.
  - rectang 5y ago
    There was a link posted elsethread ( https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29715664 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29715664 ) which reviews a lot of the issues with PGP: https://latacora.micro.blog/2019/07/16/the-pgp-problem.html https://latacora.micro.blog/2019/07/16/the-pgp-problem.html
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
  - nyolfen 5y ago
    there in fact exists a pass-like interface for age: https://github.com/FiloSottile/passage https://github.com/FiloSottile/passage
- upofadown 5y ago
  >The reasons you've provided in the past for defaulting to GnuPG --- such as its avoidance of authenticated encryption being a good data recovery mechanism --- have, to put it gently, not seemed especially informed by cryptographic best practices. That greatly misrepresents my position. Generally I prefer that things follow some sort of open standard. For offline capable, stateless encryption that leaves the OpenPGP standard. I have spent some time looking at it and judge it to be completely OK and worthy of use. I was even inspired to write a series of articles about it in an attempt to counteract the misinformation that I have seen: * https://articles.59.ca/doku.php https://articles.59.ca/doku.php

barsonme 5y ago

That’s the whole point. Cryptography tools should do one thing and do it well. Most of PGP’s problems stem from it including the kitchen sink. If you need signatures, use minisign.

upofadown 5y ago
The requirement for signatures to authenticate public key encryption is inherent. OpenPGP includes it because it is for all practical purposes mandatory. It isn't some sort of useless frill. This is public key cryptography 101 stuff...

tptacek 5y ago

Nobody should be using GnuPG casually; if you're still using it in 2021, you should have a really clear reason for doing so. You're virtually always better off using any other well-known tool. The reasons you've provided in the past for defaulting to GnuPG --- such as its avoidance of authenticated encryption being a good data recovery mechanism --- have, to put it gently, not seemed especially informed by cryptographic best practices. It seems like more of a social cause for you than an engineering decisions. Which is fine as far as it goes, but it'd be better if you were clearer about that.

rvense 5y ago
I use it indirectly with pass (passwordstore.org), which is one of the few security-related pieces of software I like. Do you have an opinion on that? I've never heard of age before, but it looks like a pass-like interface to it could be ejected in a few hours if one were so inclined. Is the antipathy towards GPG based on it being too easy to misuse/misapply, or is it because it's broken when used properly?
- tptacek 5y ago
  I've heard nothing but good things about pass. There's also a pass that uses age now, which is I guess what I'd use if I was in the market for something like it. There's a point at which you're asking so little from your cryptosystem --- as is the case with local-only CLI password managers --- that it doesn't much matter that you're using PGP. I don't, like, recoil from .pgp.asc files! The place you really get in trouble with PGP is when you try to use it on email.
- rectang 5y ago
  There was a link posted elsethread ( https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29715664 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29715664 ) which reviews a lot of the issues with PGP: https://latacora.micro.blog/2019/07/16/the-pgp-problem.html https://latacora.micro.blog/2019/07/16/the-pgp-problem.html
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- nyolfen 5y ago
  there in fact exists a pass-like interface for age: https://github.com/FiloSottile/passage https://github.com/FiloSottile/passage
upofadown 5y ago
>The reasons you've provided in the past for defaulting to GnuPG --- such as its avoidance of authenticated encryption being a good data recovery mechanism --- have, to put it gently, not seemed especially informed by cryptographic best practices. That greatly misrepresents my position. Generally I prefer that things follow some sort of open standard. For offline capable, stateless encryption that leaves the OpenPGP standard. I have spent some time looking at it and judge it to be completely OK and worthy of use. I was even inspired to write a series of articles about it in an attempt to counteract the misinformation that I have seen: * https://articles.59.ca/doku.php https://articles.59.ca/doku.php