Email Security (was Re: [TCLUG:11699] Mess ...)

[Thomas Veldhouse <veldy@visi.com>]

On Thu, 30 Dec 1999, Eric M. Hopper wrote:

> 	No, they couldn't.  The password on my private key is extremely
> secure.  It uses a symmetric encryption algorithm to encrypt the private
> key from the password.
> 

	A brute force attack with organized password guessing could break
it quite quickly, I have no doubt.  I doubt you like typing
"R#%%SXZDAE%^#@A" every time you send an email.  So, you probably have
some rational password.  If a hacker has access to your machine that you
send emails with, then he has access to your public and private key - thus
- the only thing required is the password.  Brute force will probably
succeed in a matter of hours on a fast machine (the keys could be
downloaded to one).

Tom Veldhouse
veldy@visi.com