Petraeus should have used PrivateSky
Browser based identity based encryption with embedded 2-factor authentication - http://privatesky.me
bribriinlondon
Re:Launch HN: Blyss (YC W23) – Homomorphic encryption as a service
on Monday March 20, 2023 @12:02PM (#35233587)
Very cool. Do you offer consulting if someone wanted to bake this into their solution?
Re:Removing SSLv3 in Chrome
on Friday October 31, 2014 @05:03AM (#8537882)
Yes. Unfortunately, this is an area that has become a zero sum game. Encryption needs to happen by default in every communication. It goes beyond that, entire systems and cryptographic constructs need to be overhauled in the wake of the NIST / NSA revelations.
Starting with TLS, particularly TLS that relies on commercial certificate vendors to function.
It's a total clusterfuck.
Re:Petraeus should have used PrivateSky
on Friday November 16, 2012 @08:33AM (#4793744)
PrivateSky is a browser based encrypted messaging and managed file transfer service. The keys are only available to the sender and recipient, not even CertiVox staff can access the keys. They are not physically able to comply with CALEA requests, as all encryption and decryption happens in the browser.
Re:Petraeus should have used PrivateSky
on Friday November 16, 2012 @08:22AM (#4793714)
Sign up for the service, it's free. The service is served over SSL so there is little risk of MITM (that would require a Diginotar style hack). The marketing site does not require SSL. We are not collecting and you are not transmitting any information on the marketing site (except for Google Analytics). The domain is registered at GoDaddy. Yes, we are not big fans of GoDaddy, but it's a pain to move your domain registrations. The domain proxy service is standard when you don't want to receive a lot domain spam to your technical contact.
Re:What Petraeus and Broadwell could have used instead of Gmail
on Friday November 16, 2012 @06:56AM (#4793482)
PrivateSky - http://privatesky.me
Re:5 Gmail lessons from Petraeus affair
on Friday November 16, 2012 @06:53AM (#4793467)
Use PrivateSky - privatesky.me
Re:How can PrivateSky not see your data?
on Sunday April 01, 2012 @08:11AM (#3783466)
You obviously haven't worked in a real business. You would NEVER disclose your internal processes or architecture, that's nuts, it's like drawing out your whole attack surface for your adversary.
Nevertheless, someone asked a follow on question with these exact same points back on the thread; we have posted answers.
It also seems you are being a bit disingenuous. You've studied under Dan Boneh, the founder of our competitor. You know very well what these acronyms mean.
Also, who said this is only going to be "browser based"? Browser's are a good start though....
Re:How can PrivateSky not see your data?
on Sunday April 01, 2012 @08:05AM (#3783455)
I can confirm we use the secure execution environment of the HSM, we say VMs in a general sense because of the limited knowledge of HSMs, makes it easier for people to understand. But it is actually compiled C code running in the tamper proof / tamper resistant part of the module doing the share issuance and the multiparty computation protocols.
Re:UK government to monitor email and web use under new laws
on Sunday April 01, 2012 @07:41AM (#3783403)
This is why it is critical to encrypt all communications using a trusted provider or doing it yourself with PGP, if you have the skills to do it.
Whether or not this interception is currently legal / illegal, this has been happening on a massive, global scale. The UK is just catching up to France / USA / Canada in this regard. The EU legislation on the books for Saas, ISPs to log all their traffic for an indeterminate time is also a huge cause for concern.
Shameless plug: Use PrivateSky.
Re:Say Goodbye to User Name and Password Logins, and Hello to 'OneID'
on Wednesday March 21, 2012 @06:46AM (#3733787)
PrivateSky – Secure Information Exchange platform turns your HTML5 browser into a two-factor authentication token (no more username and passwords)
PrivateSky is protected by the first HTML5 2 factor authentication solution, SkyPin, using elliptic curve cryptography that requires no browser plugin and nothing more from the user other than their email address (as login) and 4 digit pin.
SkyPin makes up part of Incognito Keys, the other part being SkyKey, our integrated identity based encryption key management solution which powers PrivateSky. Incognito Keys does what no other encrypted messaging service can do; guarantees that we CAN'T SEE YOUR DATA. PrivateSky has absolutely no way to physically comply with requests to decrypt information in the PrivateSky platform. No Hushmail leaks of information. Absolutely no backdoors.
The company behind PrivateSky is CertiVox. We're the people that produce the MIRACL open source cryptographic library, used by hundreds of organisations large and small to protect their information assets. Our chief cryptographer is Dr. Michael Scott, one of the pioneers in elliptic curve cryptography. PrivateSky utilises a number of advancements in the field, and...well, we think it's cool, cryptographically speaking. It's also really easy to use. Most importantly, we are completely transparent about how we do what we do, cryptographically speaking. Unless these other services are declaritive about how they implement their security methods, it's security by obscurity. We invite you to read our white paper on the www.privatesky.me site. You don't have to sign up or give us your information in order to access this.
We just launched our global beta so PrivateSky is now publicly available to all. PrivateSky will always remain free, even after we come out of beta period. Please help us; sign up for your own account, use the service, and give us feedback to make us better. We would really appreciate it!
Cheers, Team CertiVox
Re: Rate my startup - CertiVox's PrivateSky
on Thursday July 07, 2011 @09:05AM (#2738256)
Re: Rate my startup - CertiVox's PrivateSky
on Tuesday July 05, 2011 @06:18AM (#2729296)
Hi, we have a managed file transfer / bulk uploader coming out in a new "professional" version in about six weeks, and yes, you can do put only yourself into the Circle of Trust. In fact, I use Posterous as an online password manager exactly like this. It's an encrypted blog, but only I can open it. You could also use something like Tiddly Wiki and keep it local (although IE complains about TW...sigh).
Re: Rate my startup - CertiVox's PrivateSky
on Tuesday July 05, 2011 @06:15AM (#2729291)
Yea, I agree. The problem we run into is that we need to run the identity of the package creator by the recipient so they can determine whether they want to open it or not. We're toying with the idea of remembering a preference about your "trusted senders" and the auto opening them. Do you think that would be a happy medium?
Re: Rate my startup - CertiVox's PrivateSky
on Monday July 04, 2011 @03:31PM (#2727570)
The only way we could decrypt the message theoretically is if you brought it to us in conjunction with a "bad actor" on our end. We're not like Hushmail, we don't actually transport your message, we just give you the ability to generate and re-generate the right encryption and decryption keys with one click. Hope that helps.
Yes, many debates about the accordion and javascript usage internally. It is safe however, in case you feel adventerous on that page.
Cheers,
Brian
Re: Rate my startup - CertiVox's PrivateSky
on Monday July 04, 2011 @03:29PM (#2727559)
Sorry Gojomo, too much crypto-speak. DLP means discrete logarithm problem. It's what makes cracking some key distribution / agreement and crypto-systems hard to do.
http://planetmath.org/encyclopedia/EllipticCurveDiscreteLoga...
Edit: Sorry, meant, "hard to break". ;-)
Re: Rate my startup - CertiVox's PrivateSky
on Monday July 04, 2011 @03:08PM (#2727485)
Hi, did the video on the front of the site not work? Maybe we should make the Watch it now button bigger? Cheers.
Re: Rate my startup - CertiVox's PrivateSky
on Monday July 04, 2011 @01:25PM (#2727135)
Thanks. As mentioned, we've got Chrome and Firefox coming out soon. Cheers, Brian.
Re: Rate my startup - CertiVox's PrivateSky
on Monday July 04, 2011 @01:11PM (#2727085)
It's done through the key agreement process itself. If you have the primary private key (SkyKey) you can create the decryption key through the ID input. So if I send something to you, it would be (my SkyKey + your ID "JangoCuni") = unique AES key. To decrypt, you use (your SkyKey + "my ID") to get the same unique shared secret (AES Key). Of course, you use the shared secret value to encrypt the content encryption key.
We tried automating the process of the entire note but we found that people really wanted to put their own language around it. When we hijacked the entire note folks didn't recognize it and it's a lot more "trustable" (is that word LOL) when it comes from a friend with some of their language.
Re: Rate my startup - CertiVox's PrivateSky
on Monday July 04, 2011 @12:39PM (#2726972)
We've got Chrome and Firefox coming out soon, as stated above. I'm sorry, should we wait until then to declare our service? As far as who we are, we're British, you can have a brief summary read here: http://certivox.com/index.php/about-certivox/news-events-pre...
Re: Rate my startup - CertiVox's PrivateSky
on Monday July 04, 2011 @12:30PM (#2726936)
Hi, sorry, the description didn't come though:
I've been a long time lurker on the board, but this is my first official post. My name is Brian Spector, I'm a long time crypto geek, working in infosec for about 20 years.
Last week we launched a new service called PrivateSky, which is a end to end, browser to browser encryption service, for free. Our first product is the PrivateSky for Internet Explorer add-in. Yes, we will come out with Firefox and Chrome soon.
I'd love to see what the board thinks about what we are doing, and if so, what we could improve.
I hope this is the appropriate place to post this, if I'm violating policy (checked, couldn't find anything), then please do let me know and I will delete this.
You can get the free PrivateSky Internet Explorer add-in at:
What does it do?
CertiVox's PrivateSky SaaS is a major innovation in secure inforamtion exchange. The PrivateSky for Internet Explorer Connector add-in is a whole new approach to securing confidential information posted to the web, and anyone can use it. The PrivateSky for IE add-in doesn't require multiple passwords, certificates, or complicated processes to learn. It's simple browser to browser encryption that just works. Use it to encrypt your webmail, Facebook posts and messages, LinkedIn messages and even blog posts. PrivateSky uses the AES encryption algorithm, that means it is super safe!
Enough with the marketing schpeel, here's what we really do:
We operate an encryption key management server in the cloud. Our software connects to our key server to get everyone who enrols what we call a SkyKey. You can think of this like a private key. However, we are using a new form of key agreement called non-interactive authenticated key agreement, based upon bilinear pairing mathematics. No, this is not identity based encryption, this is non-interactive key agreement. It's heady stuff, but it has suffered through 20 years of cryptanalysis and is secured by the DLP.
Now, the thing is, there is no public key. There is only one key, your SkyKey. But, this enables you to create "connection keys", which are regular AES 192 bit keys. The analogy I always use is this: Suppose every time you made a friend on Facebook, a worldly unique AES key was created between you and your friend, and could only be created between you and your friend.
That's what we've managed to do, but in your browser. Oh, and there is a boatload of key protection, rotation, etc., going on in the background.
Again, love to get some feedback. I'm the chief bottle washer at the moment so I can't promise to respond to feedback immediately, but will try my best.
Thank you for giving it a shot and please let 'er rip, the good, bad and ugly.
Re:Ask HN: What options do I have for providing crypto in a webapp?
on Monday July 04, 2011 @11:26AM (#2726772)
https://privatesky.me
We built it. It's an IE add on. I JUST asked HN to rate my start-up, as a matter of fact.
Rate my startup - CertiVox's PrivateSky
I've been a long time lurker on the board, but this is my first official post. My name is Brian Spector, I'm a long time crypto geek, working in infosec for about 20 years.Last week we launched a new service called PrivateSky, which is a end to end, browser to browser encryption service, for free. Our first product is the PrivateSky for Internet Explorer add-in. Yes, we will come out with...