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Information Technology News Spook-proof encryption: yours for $US39?
Information Technology News Spook-proof encryption: yours for $US39? | Spook-proof encryption: yours for $US39? |
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| by Stuart Corner | |
| Friday, 11 July 2008 | |
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According to Permanent Privacy, the product is designed for individuals who are concerned about files stored on their computers, or worried that their private emails can be intercepted and read; for organisations that need to be absolutely certain that they are not the next media embarrassment due to sensitive data being lost or stolen; and developers who wish to build it into their applications. The company explains its technology by saying "The inspiration for Permanent Privacy came from the idea of encrypting a piece of plain text that was unintelligible gibberish. If the plain text is gibberish and has no meaning, there is no understandable form or relationship between the plain text and the cyphertext. So when you launch an attack on the cyphertext, and try all combinations of the key(s) in order to decrypt it, the plain text will certainly appear. The problem is that you will never know which of the perhaps billions of combinations is the plain text, as you have no way to judge this." Permanent Privacy claims that its technology "has been verified by Peter Schweitzer, one of Harvard's top cryptanalysts." Certainly his CV is impressive. However Permanent Privacy does not explain how an uncrackable relationship between meaningful text and gibberish is established. And if the product is as good as claimed it is hard to see it being allowed to stay on the market, or at least freely available to anyone, terrorists included. Permanent Privacy runs under Windows Vista (Home Basic, Home Premium, Business & Ultimate); Windows XP (Home, Professional, Media Center Edition) and Windows 2000. It can be purchased online from http://www.permanentprivacy.com. The company is offering every purchaser one chance to win $US1m if they can " identify the correct plain text [in a PP encrypted message]...[and] show us exactly how you arrived at the correct solution."
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