miniLock: Months after the Snowden revelations, the communications security and encryption technologies sector is booming as more and more users (personal or professional) are looking for new ways to ensure the confidentiality of their communications.
However, the use of encryption programs / tools remains a complex object - and this is what Nantim Combeysi wants to change, who later in the month at the HOPE hacker conference in New York will present his beta version miniLock: an easy-to-use, free and open-source browser file encryption program suitable for use by people with limited technical knowledge.
As reported in a related Wired article, 23Commpe is the "tagline" that is "encrypting files that do more with less ... it's terribly simple, easy to use, and it's impossible to get confused using it."
The program is still in an experimental phase and he suggests not to use it for very "sensitive" files, but it appears to be the "easiest" encryption software of its kind. According to Wired, which tested a version of the plugin for Chrome, it is indeed very easy to use, while the protection provided is of a very high standard indeed. MiniLock can be used to encrypt anything - from email attachments to video files to photos on a USB drive, or files stored on cloud storage services.
miniLock provides 'public key' encryption. In such systems users have two cryptosgraphics "keys", one public and one private. They share the public with anyone who wants to send them files securely. Anything encrypted with the public key can only be decrypted with the private key.
The system του Κομπεΐσι απλοποιεί όλη τη διαδικασία, καθώς κάθε φορά που ενεργοποιείται το πρόγραμμα, ο χρήστης εισάγει έναν κωδικό/ passphrase, από τον οποίο δημιουργείται ένα public key (miniLock ID) και ένα private key, το οποίο ο χρήστης δεν βλέπει ποτέ και διαγράφεται όταν «κλείνει» το πρόγραμμα. Και τα δύο είναι τα ίδια όποτε ο χρήστης εισάγει τον ίδιο κωδικό. Το βασικό πλεονέκτημα είναι ότι οποιοσδήποτε μπορεί να χρησιμοποιήσει το πρόγραμμα σε οποιονδήποτε υπολογιστή χωρίς να ανησυχεί για την ασφαλή αποθήκευση ή transport of the private key.
However, as mentioned in the Wired report, the miniLock may not be very welcome by the "cryptographic" community, as the most famous former Combey's creation was Cryptocat, which though easy to use, had many problems - but which, according to him, have been resolved.
Source: naftemporiki.gr
