RE: File Encryption - Part II

[Kenneth Buchanan <K.Buchanan () Kastenchase com>]

That is a good point, and there has been some analysis done on the subject.
Such passphrases do indeed provide a reasonable level of security, although
they do tend to be hated by the average user.

On topic, anyone serious about hardening an encryption system using
passphrase-derived keys should read the PGP passphrase FAQ:
http://www.stack.nl/~galactus/remailers/passphrase-faq.html

It should give you an idea about where to start when trying to make the
weakest link as strong as possible.


-----Original Message-----
From: Kamal Habayeb [mailto:mountainfury () fastmail fm]
Sent: Tuesday, September 16, 2003 12:28 PM
To: Kenneth Buchanan
Cc: 'Rick Jones'; security-basics () securityfocus com
Subject: Re: File Encryption - Part II


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Kenneth Buchanan wrote:
| The point of EFS is to allow file/folder access only to the appropriate
| logged-on user ...

~  As a general rule, if a password can be remembered, it can be brute
| forced.

I agree with you here Kenneth, passwords are usually the weak link in
the security equation.  I am a strong believer in pass-phrases.  Using
something like IHatE8traFFic%inDMornING* would offer a strong password
and something that the user would be able to remember better than a
randomly generated strong password.

Cheers,
Kamal Habayeb
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