best encryption tools?

[John Prophet]

or maybe "best encryption methods"

can you use "double" encryption.....for example...what if I have a file that I encrypt using "PGP"..can I then have it inside a folder which is encrypted with, say, Encryption for the Masses?

so it's double encrypted....is that possible?

What about with emails??could you have a file encrypted with E4M and then encrypt the whole email with PGP??


or does it not work like that???


anyone ever used "FineCrypt"?


Thanks for feedback, JP

[John Prophet]

any personal favorites out there? any of em been shown to be weak?

[Siliconjunkie]

PGP is pretty good by itself from what I understand. And yes, you can encrypt a file with PGP then put it in an encrypted folder.

PGP will decrypt on both ends of the e-mail. The trick is sharing the key, cant just email it to them. You could put it on an SSL enabled web server, or use something like SCP to copy it to them.

For network connections SSH/SCP is the most robust I know of.

I would say how you encrypt it all depends on what platform you are sending it from, how you want to send it and soforth.

Oh, almost forgot, you can encrypt anything with the OpenSSL toolkit, just a bit of a pain to do.

[Epyon9283]

If you go with PGP you can use a key server like http://pgp.mit.edu/ to distribute your public key. I use GnuPG(http://www.gnupg.org/).

[John Prophet]

The trick is sharing the key, cant just email it to them.

yeah, that is the trick huh...I was thinking of verbally only,lol....of course if you say it on the phone it is more insecure than anything, lol

[Siliconjunkie]

Phones are actually pretty secure, as long as they arent cordless. Basically a point to point connection. Even better if you use a modem and dial directly to them.

I guess you could use a key server as mentioned, or stenography...

[John Prophet]

Phones are actually pretty secure, as long as they arent cordless.

hmmmm, anybody at the phone company can be sitting there listening, lol..not to mention the govt creeps who u r trying to keep from reading the mail!! lol

[crouse]

JP,

You might like this section of usalug's forums.......

Gnu Privacy Guard (GnuPG)
http://usalug.org/phpBB2/viewforum.php?f=101

I don't think you'd want to give the public key out verbally..... it's kind of long

example....... here's my public key.......

-----BEGIN PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----
Version: GnuPG v1.2.3 (GNU/Linux)

mQGiBD/yVNERBADN2icxTW530J7e+uM24GLOnCpBK2mZtlq4lgjrQr6e0 l/Tgyj4
adHslTPDlcp4WVNciNW0cgpesuj2Hrog3e9W6QWu+qUS1GzWjo wIUNRiZ5jLczQn
pLN+zgkzSC2x3jjdG6EIlywlcqM9KnQjxzRv5+MH+QQBIEhKPl zhuNHiowCgoK6s
cWwncYrGbeVeW55UUIzDinkD/ROX28vQQotZtiNHNJeX37C0N9sFNAWOipgoNu5N
eN5iC71O9UBPf2xUXtE1OjgYZ5g0JPVCrBiTw8hdChyvnKQ6OS oxOKLI104HfyXH
WqbHjTRI/ojHNz98SrynnqR5qx/HBwyXufaDVkDGlxI8fnSVSxbtouNMkEk3i/xB
JVA4A/9piy/VPM+kpxjeS0QQBC3J27H/9fRqNoy8ysWqVQ7yx/uFT1QzKKrBmIAH
dRCGTo5phNsm/G8yKiLaBuBhjCHhsn7fPMi5Nrc9dlT1Rz3Y4rMrZ3sgyzQIPis N
jcsSjRBDN0ROzA2V96NkxktWYkvS7VJtyShTL7hb/t0ZT+t3xLQwRGF2ZSBDcm91
c2UgKHd3dy51c2FsdWcub3JnKSA8Y3JvdXNlQHVzYWx1Zy5vcm c+iFsEExECABsF
Aj/yVNEGCwkIBwMCAxUCAwMWAgECHgECF4AACgkQBkMFCtpu/SSH7gCgkfD1N1Ps
iKEdbsCzr2ho6kBurZYAn0tTq1piZf859UwXKhzI5cj/jRxOuQENBD/yVNMQBACL
1l3vhR35hC/SdOulnlxXZE3c4KgQS/qR4UnBFL/aflG5iQTmHsqfva5cD8wzvlSA
/oZB/RqnGSnNWGCBO0dubwoVK36IMvdT4n/8bJ5BeVN4XbXoKoCzUN/Ta+lseJW7
u610i6RUnN9qjerBEjtfcFgg4GanHj6wtRxjeUkDiwADBQQAh6 dGnCvnQ0w0TkJ+
Ux43BzrcXftHd36LgVwRO2dxu+S9IzXWe3KCmzUn8mVhKxKOOy AThiC2EGrkpGYb
TLfy6WMXGQCWw5H05VzESVYBQewFX+qErv64KDWSGtwL6lFTHg 6zNEvcHGDWevPa
MZ/iJl+Jt4wHpirJjIu0oQXKzNeIRgQYEQIABgUCP/JU0wAKCRAGQwUK2m79JORK
AJwIAw1Yq76J6jLo8PzYfEgfNVAUXwCfWDS87GaUz5UW1B5U5w 7416z2qv0=
=tu9d
-----END PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----

[crouse]

Not intended for anyone in particular, but just some info on this subject in case someone doesn't understand it at all.............

A quick run down on using keys.......... short and sweet.......

------------

public key cryptography.

You have a private key generated on your machine from a password that you enter, and other random data. The public key is generated at the same time.

You post your public key wherever. Website, email...
You don't show anyone your private key.

When someone sends you an encrypted email, they will encrypt it using your public key -- the key that you gave to them.

You decrypt it using your private key.

-------------- so sharing your public key is easy enough....... no security issues there..... once encrypted only you will be able to decrypt with your private key..... which you don't share with anyone else.

[John Prophet]

ahhh,,,I was thinking "private key" then....hehe..I can see there being some issues with giving that public key out verbally...reminds me of maxwell smart and the "dome of silence"