From owner-freebsd-security@FreeBSD.ORG Sun Jan 29 15:43:01 2006 Return-Path: X-Original-To: freebsd-security@freebsd.org Delivered-To: freebsd-security@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id B620E16A420 for ; Sun, 29 Jan 2006 15:43:01 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from Alexander@Leidinger.net) Received: from www.ebusiness-leidinger.de (jojo.ms-net.de [84.16.236.246]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id F115143D49 for ; Sun, 29 Jan 2006 15:43:00 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from Alexander@Leidinger.net) Received: from Andro-Beta.Leidinger.net (p54A5DAD2.dip.t-dialin.net [84.165.218.210]) (authenticated bits=0) by www.ebusiness-leidinger.de (8.13.1/8.13.1) with ESMTP id k0TFY04W062260; Sun, 29 Jan 2006 16:34:01 +0100 (CET) (envelope-from Alexander@Leidinger.net) Received: from Magellan.Leidinger.net (Magellan.Leidinger.net [192.168.1.1]) by Andro-Beta.Leidinger.net (8.13.3/8.13.3) with ESMTP id k0TFgtp6063962; Sun, 29 Jan 2006 16:42:56 +0100 (CET) (envelope-from Alexander@Leidinger.net) Date: Sun, 29 Jan 2006 16:42:55 +0100 From: Alexander Leidinger To: Christian Baer Message-ID: <20060129164255.32d7722a@Magellan.Leidinger.net> In-Reply-To: References: <20060129022943.GJ2341@turion.vk2pj.dyndns.org> X-Mailer: Sylpheed-Claws 1.9.100 (GTK+ 2.8.11; i386-portbld-freebsd7.0) Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Virus-Scanned: by amavisd-new X-Mailman-Approved-At: Sun, 29 Jan 2006 15:59:01 +0000 Cc: freebsd-security@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Should I use gbde or geli? X-BeenThere: freebsd-security@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: "Security issues \[members-only posting\]" List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Sun, 29 Jan 2006 15:43:01 -0000 On Sun, 29 Jan 2006 12:10:34 +0100 (CET) Christian Baer wrote: > One of the aces we may have is the fact that noone (including the > employees) will know that the information is encrypted. This way a theft Too late now. You already revealed this information into the public. Google will be able to tell the well prepared burglar about this. > could look more promising and if it succeeds the thief will find out > that what he stole is worthless (apart from the hardware itself). > We have been talking of AES all the time. How secure is blowfish? It's > open source but not too well analysed so far. Can you say something > about that. I have a problem trusting something that the NSA suggests, > as there is always the possibility of a flaw in that. I know, some wild > conspiricy, but worth a consideration at least. AFAIR Blowfish was one the main algorithms which had a lot of potential to get the AES sign, but in the end Rijndael won. I think it won because of some resource aspects, not because of security aspects. But I may be wrong with this. > > You need to take into account the likelihood of the alarm system false > > triggering or a burglar stealing the computer without setting off the > > alarm. You might find it easier to protect the master keys with a > > (volatile) passphrase and rely on adequate protection of the > > passphrase. (You might also consider looking up "secret sharing" > > "threshold system"). > > I'm not really sure where you're going with this volatile pass-phrase. > Both gbde and geli (AFAIK) don't save the pass-phrase on the disc. So > they are by definition volatile. If some burglar were to steal the > computer it most likely would be cut off from power. This way the discs > would be "cold" and the information safe. The bigger risk would be the > burglar copying the information. > > Or am I missing the point here? Think about one-time passwords. Bye, Alexander. -- Actually, Microsoft is sort of a mixture between the Borg and the Ferengi. http://www.Leidinger.net Alexander @ Leidinger.net GPG fingerprint = C518 BC70 E67F 143F BE91 3365 79E2 9C60 B006 3FE7 WL http://www.amazon.de/exec/obidos/registry/1FZ4DTHQE9PQ8/ref=wl_em_to/