<nettime> Tack this on to Web e-mail security -- attachments

["nettime's_roving_reporter" <nettime@bbs.thing.net>]

http://www.cnn.com/TECH/computing/9909/21/hushmail/index.html

By Robin Lloyd
CNN Interactive Senior Writer

(CNN) -- As developers and start-ups attack the Web e-mail privacy issue,
encryption products for the masses are multiplying, with a company based
in Anguilla, in the West Indies, now in tests for sending secure
attachments. 

HushMail, a free, fully-encrypted Web-based e-mail service that gets high
marks from some computer privacy specialists, has posted an alpha version
of its secure document delivery service on its Web site. 

The service offers SSL, or Secure Sockets Layer, security for attached
documents that may be sufficient for most users -- it relies on 128-bit
private keys. 

"SSL is a valid security protocol," said HushMail co-founder Jon Gilliam,
"though these days it's getting less and less valid because people are
cracking up to 512-bit encryption." 

Many e-commerce sites rely on SSL to protect online consumers from credit
card fraud and identity thieves. HushMail will keep up with the times and
upgrade its security for attachments if necessary, Gilliam said. 

Based outside the United States, HushMail can dodge restrictions on the
export of strong cryptography -- although those constraints may change
soon with an announcement last week by President Clinton that he will
relax those standards. 

'Key management is the Holy Grail'

HushMail came on the scene four months ago with a Web-based e-mail service
that provides 1024-bit key encryption for messages. Members sign in with a
"passphrase" and can send encrypted messages to other HushMail addresses. 

The current state of browser technology prohibits HushMail and anyone else
from using highly secure end-to-end encryption for attachments, Gilliam
said. 

For longer-key security, users can include documents within messages
rather than sending them as attachments, he said. 

"Key management is the Holy Grail of this whole thing," Gilliam says. 
Keys, or long strings of 1s and 0s, generally are required to open
encrypted messages. 

HushMail's "passphrase" generates a key on the company's servers in
Canada, so that users can open encrypted messages without knowing the
sender's key. 

Unlike some of its competitors, HushMail's code is open -- anyone who can
read the stuff is free to check out their claims. 

An alpha test of the attachments feature can be found at
www.hushmail.com/attachments. 


Many options available

Recent breaches in Microsoft's free Hotmail service on the Web have piqued
interest in more secure e-mail alternatives, although Microsoft says the
worst breach has been closed and its commitment to security is tight. 

Regardless, Hotmail's service certainly is not encrypted. For free
encrypted e-mail on the Web, users must turn to HushMail or a competitor
-- for instance, Ziplip.com or Network Associates' Pretty Good Privacy. 

ZipLip.com, based in California, provides Web-based e-mail that allows
users to scramble and lock e-mail messages they send, have them unlocked
by only their intended target at the other end via a shared password and
effectively shredded after they are read. 

But Ziplip's encryption key is shorter - 128 bits. And PGP can be
challenging to use for even seasoned computer users. 

Web-based e-mail can never be entirely secure, some say, and it's safer to
go with downloadable products like Montreal-based Zero-Knowledge System's
beta release of its Freedom software, which provides pseudonymous Web
surfing, e-mail and chatting with strong encryption. 

But that product costs about $50 and provides more security than typical
users want or need. These may be more useful to companies or citizens
dodging repressive governments. 


What the experts say

Cryptography specialists differ on which product is best, saying it
depends upon a user's needs. 

Bruce Schneier, author of "Applied Cryptography" and a monthly newsletter
on encryption, criticizes those who point to long keys to bolster their
claims of high security. 

Snoopers can find ways around the keys about which some security software
companies boast, he said. 

"They're saying, 'We use this impressive lock on our screen door. 
Nobody's going to pick it.' Instead, they're going to take a rock and
scissors and cut out the screen," Schneier said. 

For instance, HushMail's passphrase is short enough to be hacked, Schneier
said. Users generally can only remember passphrases about 30 characters
long. 

But few people have the time and know-how to spend two or three weeks
figuring out back doors into so-called secure solutions -- on the Web and
elsewhere. 

"You're not choosing the best cryptography. You're choosing a product you
want," he said. He recommended a PGP-based product and something with a
passphrase. 

Hushmail has a "lock-out" feature to block attempts to repeatedly guess
passphrases. 

Jim Reavis, founder of SecurityPortal.com, reviews security solutions for
corporations and says Schneier sets the bar a bit too high.  Reavis
recommends HushMail. 

"I'm looking for open source, something that wasn't using JavaScript
because that seems to have lots of security vulnerabilities and something
that has publishable algorithms," Reavis said, also stated he'd prefer a
Web-based solution. 

PGP isn't Web-based and Ziplip.com's code is closed.  "It looked like
[HushMail] had those four features covered," Reavis said. 



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