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"The Hushmail thing shows that some companies will happily roll over when given valid law enforcement documentation. (Fair enough, I'm not sure what else they s
by betterunix 14y ago
"The Hushmail thing shows that some companies will happily roll over when given valid law enforcement documentation. (Fair enough, I'm not sure what else they should do.)"
Companies could design products that do not give them the ability to cooperate in that manner. Hushmail, for example, could have designed a system where customers were sold smartcards and not actually run the mail transport, so that Hushmail itself had no ability to access encrypted messages. While this would have made Hushmail a bit less convenient, it would also have made it many times more secure.
Unfortunately, in the current right-wing political climate, there are few incentives for companies to actually develop or deploy such systems.
- Dylan16807 14y agoFrom what I recall Hushmail had a downloadable applet that was safe. The problem is they stole certain user passwords by altering the web client.
- betterunix 14y agoThey could just as easily have modified the applet itself.
- Dylan16807 14y agoNot assuming you downloaded it before you became a target. The point I'm trying to make here is that there was a way to use hushmail without trusting their servers, which anyone wanting to use the service should do because they're completely untrustworthy.
- betterunix 14y agoI am pretty sure that applets can be updated by the server, which is one of their big advantages (i.e. no need to try to compel everyone to update on schedule). Really though, if you are only going to use PGP from a single computer and you are not going to download your encryption software every time you use it, what advantage is there to using Hushmail? Thunderbird with Enigmail, Evolution, Claws-mail/Sylpheed, and numerous other email programs can encrypt and sign messages. Hushmail's only draw is that it is webmail, which is only useful if you want to check your email from arbitrary other computers. It is also generally bad practice to leave your secret keys on some server somewhere, even if you are sure your passphrase is strong. I would not be surprised if a lot of Hushmail users have very weak passphrases that can be easily guessed.
- DanBC 14y agoPGP is hard enough for smart people to use. It's impossible for regular users to install and use PGP without catastrophic failures. Hushmail takes all that difficulty away, with the drawbacks you mention of insecurity from people trusting it too much.
- Dylan16807 14y agoMaybe I shouldn't have used the word 'applet' but it was something you were supposed to NOT load from their servers every use.
- betterunix 14y ago"Applet" is the correct word -- it is a Java applet. The only way to not load anything from their servers every use is to use PGP in a more traditional setup, where your keys are stored locally and never leave your control.
- Dylan16807 14y agoAs far as I understand it you can one-time download and verify their java program, and it uses your password to retrieve and decrypt keys in a way that protects you from hushmail. So with that workflow it is very much like traditional PGP with no way to inject a vulnerability later. Am I mistaken?