Using copy protection dongles to distribute vpn encryption keys by mail?

[The Dark Tangent]

Re: Using copy protection dongles to distribute vpn encryption keys by mail?

Just a clarification, when you say "VPN encryption keys" do you mean the pre-shared secret keys, or do you mean the public key of the vpn device and the secret key of the user?

The reason I ask is the pre-shared keys can be written down, told over the phone, the closing price of gold every day until the max key length is reached, etc. Also you can disable IKE/IKEv2 certificate and key management thus reducing your attack surface.

[shrdlu]

Re: Using copy protection dongles to distribute vpn encryption keys by mail?

I can't take it. I tried duct tape on my fingers, I tried extra coffee (mmmm, coffee good). I give up. Seriously, if you're just looking for a secure enough, trustworthy enough, mechanism to send messages, there are plenty already out there. As our good friend Erehwon has already mentioned, reinventing the wheel is bad. Cryptography is *hard*. Seriously. If you think you have some magic answer, you don't know enough, and you haven't read enough.

For those crazy folk who think the NSA/NRO/DIA/DISA/CIA/FBI/DHS/SMG etc etc etc *care* *at* *all* about what you are doing, you're wrong. They don't. You are just not that interesting. Is there anyone on this forum that those folk might be interested in? Sure, maybe. I could even hazard a guess as to who they were, and why (but I won't). For every conspiracy crazy out there that thinks the NSA is paying attention to them, there's someone in one of the TLA's that just doesn't care. Seriously.

I'm certainly not saying that they (the FedGov) haven't far overstepped their bounds in the past few, but the pendulum is about to swing back (it's one of those danged physics things, pendulums). I'm just saying that you should all let common sense prevail. Smart people have worked on these problems, and there are good solutions out there, including PGP (my personal favorite), TOR, SILC (not common, but very nice), and so on.

Remember what Barbie says: "Math is hard."

I really need more coffee...

[Greyhatter]

Re: Using copy protection dongles to distribute vpn encryption keys by mail?

Your as safe and savvy as you want to be now, and as safe and savvy afterward when you realize you've done the right thing... wash, rinse, repeat.

[streaker69]

Re: Using copy protection dongles to distribute vpn encryption keys by mail?

For those crazy folk who think the NSA/NRO/DIA/DISA/CIA/FBI/DHS/SMG etc etc etc *care* *at* *all* about what you are doing, you're wrong. They don't. You are just not that interesting. Is there anyone on this forum that those folk might be interested in? Sure, maybe. I could even hazard a guess as to who they were, and why (but I won't). For every conspiracy crazy out there that thinks the NSA is paying attention to them, there's someone in one of the TLA's that just doesn't care. Seriously.

That was pretty much my thoughts as well. No TLA is interested in the general chatter of what goes on. But if you are one of those that they are interested in, I doubt there is much that could be done to prevent them from getting the information.

As for the return swing of the pendulum, I don't think it's on it's way back. I have a feeling it's going to keep it's current direction, but we just won't hear about it.

I see the clouds that move across the sky
I see the wind that moves the clouds away
It moves the clouds over by the building
I pick the building that I want to live in

I smell the pine trees and the peaches in the woods
I see the pinecones that fall by the highway
That's the highway that goes to the building
I pick the building that I want to live in

It's over there, it's over there
My building has every convenience
It's gonna make life easy for me
It's gonna be easy to get things done
I will relax alone with my loved ones

Loved ones, loved ones visit the building,
take the highway, park and come up and see me
I'll be working, working but if you come visit
I'll put down what I'm doing, my friends are important

Don't you worry 'bout me
I wouldn't worry about me
Don't you worry 'bout me
Don't you worry 'bout me

I see the states, across this big nation
I see the laws made in Washington, D.C.
I think of the ones I consider my favorites
I think of the people that are working for me

Some civil servants are just like my loved ones
They work so hard and they try to be strong
I'm a lucky guy to live in my building
They all need buildings to help them along

It's over there, it's over there
My building has every convenience
It's gonna make life easy for me
It's gonna be easy to get things done
I will relax along with my loved ones

Loved ones, loved ones visit the building
Take the highway, park and come up and see me
I'll be working, working but if you come visit
I'll put down what I'm doing, my friends are important

I wouldn't worry 'bout
I wouldn't worry about me
Don't you worry 'bout me
Don't you worry 'bout ME..........

[Greyhatter]

Re: Using copy protection dongles to distribute vpn encryption keys by mail?

Damn that's gloomy! And there must me something in between this and that:

On the day the world ends
A bee circles a clover,
A Fisherman mends a glimmering net.
Happy porpoises jump in the sea,
By the rainspout young sparrows are playing
And the snake is gold-skinned as it it should always be.

On the day the world ends
Women walk through fields under their umbrellas
A drunkard grows sleepy at the edge of a lawn,
Vegetable peddlers shout in the street
And a yellow-sailed boat comes nearer the island,
The voice of a violin lasts in the air
And leads into a starry night.

And those who expected lightning and thunder
Are disappointed.
And those who expected signs and archangels' trumps
Do not believe it is happening now.
As long as the sun and the moon are above,
As long as the bumblebee visits a rose
As long as rosy infants are born
No one believes it is happening now.

Only a white-haired old man, who would be a prophet,
Yet is not a prophet, for he's much too busy,
Repeats while he binds his tomatoes:
No other end of the world there will be,
No other end of the world there will be.

Czeslaw Milosz