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Show HN: EmailPK – Instant encrypted email

53 points by diafygi 12y ago

diafygi 12y ago
Feedback welcome. My email is: diafygi+3AT5MGn7bCpHsE6T8vDDfd5oAqaRVxV6pmnFg8gSbUAV@gmail.com
ClassicFarris 12y ago
So are the emails stored in Gmail encrypted?
- diafygi 12y ago
  Yes. This encrypts the message before opening the gmail compose window, so all gmail sees is the encrypted message.
ellisonf9 12y ago
Nice. Email privacy is very important. I commend you on making something that protects people's privacy. Good job :)
ghayes 12y ago
Awesome proof of concept. Do you have a public directory of people involved to test this out on? I'm a man with a message and no one to send to.
- diafygi 12y ago
  Thanks! So far it's just me, so maybe you could open an issue requesting others to test with their addresses?
  - StavrosK 12y ago
    How can I generate a private key, though? (EDIT: Never mind, you just type a passphrase when you send an email. You can send me messages at hi+3mrw9gpkAN1Uc5ZUFxdNtxQhUiEvsWE1GveBkzNKYvqF@stavros.io) I can see this having problems with revocation and password changes, unfortunately. Namely, if your passphrase is compromised, you're screwed.
    - deleted 12y ago
      [deleted]
tomjen3 12y ago
So close. Make it work with peoples normal email address and host it somewhere that isn't subject to a NSL and we are golden.
- diafygi 12y ago
  It sort-of does work with people's existing email (since the public key is just added as an email alias). If you didn't have the public key in the email, you'd have to have central repo for public keys, which is what this technique is trying to prevent. Also, this is an unhosted application, so you can just right click and save-as. It still works hosted on your local filesystem (which isn't subject to NSLs).
  - hnha 12y ago
    only works with hosts that support aliases and I doubt that's many. nice idea though!
    - diafygi 12y ago
      Gmail[1], Outlook[2], and Yahoo[3] supposedly support aliases, and everyone who uses Google Apps for their email also support aliases. I've only verified with my Gmail, so can anyone else confirm Outlook and Yahoo? [1] - https://support.google.com/a/answer/33327 https://support.google.com/a/answer/33327 [2] - http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/outlook/add-alias-account http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/outlook/add-alias... [3] - https://help.yahoo.com/kb/creating-aliases-sln3240.html https://help.yahoo.com/kb/creating-aliases-sln3240.html
      - hnha 12y ago
        but those are hosts that I would not expect privacy aware people to use!
        diafygi 12y ago
        Heh, that's kind of the point for this project: making email encryption easy for lay-users.
StavrosK 12y ago
This is a great idea, I hadn't thought of embedding ECC keys in the address itself. That makes them very easy to share, and backwards-compatible. I think this has great potential, especially as a mail client plugin, since it's so easy to use.
StavrosK 12y ago
The only problem I'm having is that it's requesting my passphrase even though I paste my full email address (with my key embedded). I assume it's for signing? It would be very nice if it could let me choose to send it unsigned.
- diafygi 12y ago
  For throwaway/anonymous encryption, check out my other project: https://github.com/diafygi/myLock https://github.com/diafygi/myLock
  - StavrosK 12y ago
    Oh, it's not so much throwaway encryption as much as it is "I don't trust this webpage and don't want to enter my key in it". However, I'll have a look at the code for my own peace of mind. EmailPK looks great, great job! I love it. EDIT: By the way, I assume you're aware of the fact that your name is Greek for "escape"?
    - diafygi 12y ago
      Please do! The code is meant to be audited, so please file any bug reports. Also, I do indeed know my username's meaning. Isn't it closer to "slips through the cracks"?
      - StavrosK 12y ago
        Not exactly, it's closer to "escaping" or "eluding" in modern Greek, but it comes from dia (through) + fygi (flight), so maybe it meant "slips through the cracks" in ancient Greek. I think it meant "escape" back then too, though.
Fastidious 12y ago
"NOTE: THIS IS A PROOF OF CONCEPT. DO NOT USE FOR REAL SECRETS" Other than being a proof of concept, what is the real problem on using this for "real secrets?" Are there plans to take it our of proof of concept to something usable then? I see your myLock carries the same disclaimer, what is the point then?
- egypturnash 12y ago
  "don't sue me if this encryption turns out to be easily crackable and you used this for something worth suing about"
- diafygi 12y ago
  I don't really expect these projects to get used widely. They serve more as inspiration to show that client-side encryption doesn't have to be cumbersome for the casual user. It would be great if webapp developers started baking client-side encryption into their apps.
  - lawnchair_larry 12y ago
    Actually this would not be great. It's kind of an unsolved problem. There is no way to do it safely.
    - diafygi 12y ago
      So we should just give up then?
lectrick 12y ago
This is cool! One suggestion: I currently can't bookmark a URL that just contains my email with public key in the querystring, because the app complains that some parameters are missing. So for example https://diafygi.github.io/emailpk/?from=<myusername+publickey>@gmail.com https://diafygi.github.io/emailpk/?from=<myusername+publicke... will fail. If this worked, and automatically told the app the "from" address, that would make it easier to just hit a saved link or bookmark containing that info so I could get right down to business. Other than that, a bit of polish and this would be fantastic. One problem might be running into the maximum URL length allowed by browsers (2083, limited by IE, if I am correct), if you store the ciphertext on the URL, but I don't see another way to get around that short of a very clever HTML email that performs a form post... which may be possible, not sure.
- diafygi 12y ago
  Thanks! Pre-filling the form is a good suggestion. Want to do a pull request? Also, I try keep the encrypted payload size minimized, but yes, URL limits can be a problem (as well as line breaks that email clients sometimes insert). You can always copy and paste the link into the Read Existing text area, though.
  - lectrick 12y ago
    I could probably make that work, but my Javascript skills were last used when JQuery was new, so I may be out of the loop
claudius 12y ago
Could you add a “standard” mailto: link? I’m not using any of the popular webmail providers, but this looks really nice otherwise :)
- diafygi 12y ago
  After encrypting, the text area shows the encrypted message ("This message is encrypted..."). So you can always manually copy that and paste it into your own mail client :)
  - claudius 12y ago
    That is certainly true, thanks!
vacuo 12y ago
In a more polished version, you'd want to make it clear that the passphrase is not necessarily the password used to log into your email account... Seems like a really good idea. :)
- diafygi 12y ago
  Good suggestion! Want to do a pull request?

53 points by diafygi 12y ago

diafygi 12y ago

Feedback welcome. My email is: diafygi+3AT5MGn7bCpHsE6T8vDDfd5oAqaRVxV6pmnFg8gSbUAV@gmail.com

ClassicFarris 12y ago

So are the emails stored in Gmail encrypted?

diafygi 12y ago
Yes. This encrypts the message before opening the gmail compose window, so all gmail sees is the encrypted message.

ellisonf9 12y ago

Nice. Email privacy is very important. I commend you on making something that protects people's privacy. Good job :)

ghayes 12y ago

Awesome proof of concept. Do you have a public directory of people involved to test this out on? I'm a man with a message and no one to send to.

diafygi 12y ago
Thanks! So far it's just me, so maybe you could open an issue requesting others to test with their addresses?
- StavrosK 12y ago
  How can I generate a private key, though? (EDIT: Never mind, you just type a passphrase when you send an email. You can send me messages at hi+3mrw9gpkAN1Uc5ZUFxdNtxQhUiEvsWE1GveBkzNKYvqF@stavros.io) I can see this having problems with revocation and password changes, unfortunately. Namely, if your passphrase is compromised, you're screwed.
  - deleted 12y ago
    [deleted]

tomjen3 12y ago

So close. Make it work with peoples normal email address and host it somewhere that isn't subject to a NSL and we are golden.

diafygi 12y ago
It sort-of does work with people's existing email (since the public key is just added as an email alias). If you didn't have the public key in the email, you'd have to have central repo for public keys, which is what this technique is trying to prevent. Also, this is an unhosted application, so you can just right click and save-as. It still works hosted on your local filesystem (which isn't subject to NSLs).
- hnha 12y ago
  only works with hosts that support aliases and I doubt that's many. nice idea though!
  - diafygi 12y ago
    Gmail[1], Outlook[2], and Yahoo[3] supposedly support aliases, and everyone who uses Google Apps for their email also support aliases. I've only verified with my Gmail, so can anyone else confirm Outlook and Yahoo? [1] - https://support.google.com/a/answer/33327 https://support.google.com/a/answer/33327 [2] - http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/outlook/add-alias-account http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/outlook/add-alias... [3] - https://help.yahoo.com/kb/creating-aliases-sln3240.html https://help.yahoo.com/kb/creating-aliases-sln3240.html
    - hnha 12y ago
      but those are hosts that I would not expect privacy aware people to use!
      - diafygi 12y ago
        Heh, that's kind of the point for this project: making email encryption easy for lay-users.

StavrosK 12y ago

This is a great idea, I hadn't thought of embedding ECC keys in the address itself. That makes them very easy to share, and backwards-compatible. I think this has great potential, especially as a mail client plugin, since it's so easy to use.

StavrosK 12y ago

The only problem I'm having is that it's requesting my passphrase even though I paste my full email address (with my key embedded). I assume it's for signing? It would be very nice if it could let me choose to send it unsigned.

diafygi 12y ago
For throwaway/anonymous encryption, check out my other project: https://github.com/diafygi/myLock https://github.com/diafygi/myLock
- StavrosK 12y ago
  Oh, it's not so much throwaway encryption as much as it is "I don't trust this webpage and don't want to enter my key in it". However, I'll have a look at the code for my own peace of mind. EmailPK looks great, great job! I love it. EDIT: By the way, I assume you're aware of the fact that your name is Greek for "escape"?
  - diafygi 12y ago
    Please do! The code is meant to be audited, so please file any bug reports. Also, I do indeed know my username's meaning. Isn't it closer to "slips through the cracks"?
    - StavrosK 12y ago
      Not exactly, it's closer to "escaping" or "eluding" in modern Greek, but it comes from dia (through) + fygi (flight), so maybe it meant "slips through the cracks" in ancient Greek. I think it meant "escape" back then too, though.

Fastidious 12y ago

"NOTE: THIS IS A PROOF OF CONCEPT. DO NOT USE FOR REAL SECRETS" Other than being a proof of concept, what is the real problem on using this for "real secrets?" Are there plans to take it our of proof of concept to something usable then? I see your myLock carries the same disclaimer, what is the point then?

egypturnash 12y ago
"don't sue me if this encryption turns out to be easily crackable and you used this for something worth suing about"
diafygi 12y ago
I don't really expect these projects to get used widely. They serve more as inspiration to show that client-side encryption doesn't have to be cumbersome for the casual user. It would be great if webapp developers started baking client-side encryption into their apps.
- lawnchair_larry 12y ago
  Actually this would not be great. It's kind of an unsolved problem. There is no way to do it safely.
  - diafygi 12y ago
    So we should just give up then?

lectrick 12y ago

This is cool! One suggestion: I currently can't bookmark a URL that just contains my email with public key in the querystring, because the app complains that some parameters are missing. So for example https://diafygi.github.io/emailpk/?from=<myusername+publickey>@gmail.com https://diafygi.github.io/emailpk/?from=<myusername+publicke... will fail. If this worked, and automatically told the app the "from" address, that would make it easier to just hit a saved link or bookmark containing that info so I could get right down to business. Other than that, a bit of polish and this would be fantastic. One problem might be running into the maximum URL length allowed by browsers (2083, limited by IE, if I am correct), if you store the ciphertext on the URL, but I don't see another way to get around that short of a very clever HTML email that performs a form post... which may be possible, not sure.

diafygi 12y ago
Thanks! Pre-filling the form is a good suggestion. Want to do a pull request? Also, I try keep the encrypted payload size minimized, but yes, URL limits can be a problem (as well as line breaks that email clients sometimes insert). You can always copy and paste the link into the Read Existing text area, though.
- lectrick 12y ago
  I could probably make that work, but my Javascript skills were last used when JQuery was new, so I may be out of the loop

claudius 12y ago

Could you add a “standard” mailto: link? I’m not using any of the popular webmail providers, but this looks really nice otherwise :)

diafygi 12y ago
After encrypting, the text area shows the encrypted message ("This message is encrypted..."). So you can always manually copy that and paste it into your own mail client :)
- claudius 12y ago
  That is certainly true, thanks!

vacuo 12y ago

In a more polished version, you'd want to make it clear that the passphrase is not necessarily the password used to log into your email account... Seems like a really good idea. :)

diafygi 12y ago
Good suggestion! Want to do a pull request?