Privacy With a 4096 Bit RSA Key — Offline, On Paper 232
HavanaF writes "Online backup is practical, but can it offer any privacy? The Dutch security company Safeberg developed an Offline Private Key Protocol, with an asymmetric key scheme. The protocol demands that the private (decryption) key be stored away from the 'source' computer, which presumably is 'too vulnerable.' The catch is that the private key needs to be fairly large to be secure: a 4,096-bit RSA key should suffice for some years. But how to store an 800-character key offline? Safeberg introduces a machine readable paper key, with the 4k-bit key crammed in a giant 2D Datamatrix barcode. This video on key strength tells the story."
What Happens When ... (Score:5, Funny)
Another plausible scenario I have to watch out for (Score:3, Funny)
Guy holding knife and laxatives: "Poop the paper! Poop it now!"
First Po.. (Score:1, Funny)
Hang on! let me get my giant barcode out of my pocket!
key exchange (Score:3, Funny)
Re:What Happens When ... (Score:3, Funny)
Re:In 2006, a guy recited Pi to 100000 places... (Score:3, Funny)
Nothing, but that poor guy will have to remember passwords for everyone!
Re:no thanks my Hard drive is too big (Score:4, Funny)
How the fuck am I gonna back up to a remote server over the internet at 60 kbytes/sec?
you can get about 17 MBytes/Sec with a 1.5TB through USPS
Re:Another plausible scenario I have to watch out (Score:5, Funny)
"Defecate thy papyrus!"
Re:no thanks my Hard drive is too big (Score:1, Funny)
They mean BESIDES the music, movies, and pr0n. You know, the [stuff] on your hard drive that's actually useful?
BLASPHEME!
Re:And this is practical, how? (Score:4, Funny)
Safeberg also announced that their official position is that "dog food tastes terrible".
Idiotic (Score:4, Funny)
This makes absolutely no sense. Smart cards have been around for many years now. There, you NEVER give ANYONE or anything access to your private key. Challenge-response, one-time-passwords, tokens, etc, etc. Putting it on paper is LESS SECURE than sticking it on a thunb drive. Then at least it can't be stolen by taking a picture...
Re:Lets go old school (Score:2, Funny)
"What's your password?"
"Umm....let's see. Del Monte canned peaches in light syrup, kraft macaroni and cheese, hunts canned pizza sauce, campbels chicken and noodle soup"
"We need a Safeway, tape, scissors and a barcode reader!"
Re:no thanks my Hard drive is too big (Score:1, Funny)
Online backup is practical
not for my 1.5 terabyte HDD which is about half full.
Right now backing up from hard drive to hard drive takes forever (hours). How the fuck am I gonna back up to a remote server over the internet at 60 kbytes/sec?
How much porn can one person watch, anyway? I mean, you have to leave time for Salshdot, too!
Re:no thanks my Hard drive is too big (Score:3, Funny)
you can get about 17 MBytes/Sec with a 1.5TB through USPS
Liar! 17 Megabyte files always take 20 minutes to copy. Always.
Re:In 2006, a guy recited Pi to 100000 places... (Score:3, Funny)
when you put 4096 bit encryption into the hands of an average person, they really do type 12345 one hundred and sixty times.
I'm obviously above average then - i'd use cut & paste to do the job in seconds!
Hang on a minute (Score:3, Funny)
Does it come with a sticky backing so I can put it next to all the passwords I wrote down?
Re:What Happens When ... (Score:2, Funny)
Bar codes printed on media of all kinds are generally quite robust and not error prone.
Excepet at the supermarket, when you are in a hurry...
Re:What Happens When ... (Score:3, Funny)
Re:In 2006, a guy recited Pi to 100000 places... (Score:3, Funny)
It takes a special kind of mind to do that.
And that said... I memorized a 48 character hexadecimal password, in case I ever need one. :P
I hope it wasn't F80FFA585E9867B804D998A2ED65E55BFC352C3C500684CC, cuz that's the one I'm using.
Re:What Happens When ... (Score:5, Funny)
I tried do to that and all I got was "42".
Re:In 2006, a guy recited Pi to 100000 places... (Score:2, Funny)
Re:key exchange (Score:1, Funny)
Sorry, I only accept mimeographs.
Re:no thanks my Hard drive is too big (Score:3, Funny)
Those who would sacrifice latency for bandwidth deserve neither.