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OpenPGP Implemented In JavaScript

angry tapir writes with this excerpt from Tech World: "Researchers from German security firm Recurity Labs have released a JavaScript implementation of the OpenPGP specification that allows users to encrypt and decrypt webmail messages. Called GPG4Browsers, the tool functions as an extension for Google Chrome and now is capable of working with GMail." A quick gander at the source leaves me with the impression that it should be more or less portable to other browsers. It's also built using a lot of off-the-shelf Javascript libraries. (Who knew Javascript had a bignum library and a number of cipher implementations?)

167 comments

  1. Who knew? by Pieroxy · · Score: 4, Insightful

    who knew Javascript had a bignum library and a number of cipher implementations

    Those that know JavaScript?

    And I don't mean the kids copy/pasting stuff found on the web, but real people working with JavaScript and having knowledge of the language, libraries, etc.

    The biggest problem with JavaScript is that the world is plagued with kiddos that think they know JavaScript when all they know is how to search their needs on Google and copy/paste from there.

    1. Re:Who knew? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The worst part is a lot of the so-called Help out there is also done this way.
      So you have about 1500 websites with all the same damn information and not the stuff that anybody is actually looking for, or needs, because they all seem to have ripped off the same source.

    2. Re:Who knew? by LingNoi · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Ah yes, the stereotypical programmer.. You're either a genius or an idiot. You must be real fun to work with.

    3. Re:Who knew? by Oligonicella · · Score: 0

      Seconded. More inane language bias on display.

    4. Re:Who knew? by Xner · · Score: 1

      Actually, since we're on topic now, I have been looking for a good way to get into JavaScript that steers clear of the cargo cult mentality. Do you have any pointers for books, tutorials etc?

      --
      Pathman, Free (as in GPL) 3D Pac Man
    5. Re:Who knew? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

      The short book, JavaScript: The Good Parts, by Douglas Crockford ....

    6. Re:Who knew? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It can't be done. The problem is that the language itself is so horribly broken that anything built upon it, be it libraries, applications, tutorials or books, will inherently be horrible, too. JavaScript just can't be salvaged. It needs to be discarded.

      This is usually the point where some dipshit who only knows JavaScript will start mistakenly claiming that JavaScript is "similar to Scheme". Don't buy into that bullshit. Anyone who knows Scheme knows that JavaScript is far inferior and they are no way alike.

      JavaScript is a fad that's on its way out. The same thing happened to Ruby due to Ruby on Rails. The Ruby hype really started taking off around 2006, but by 2010 people realized how shitty Ruby and RoR actually are. That's why we hear almost nothing about either of them these days. The same thing is happening to JavaScript, although it's delayed slightly. It really started taking off around 2008, so it's a couple of years behind Ruby. By 2013, it's likely that JavaScript and its advocates will be widely shunned, too.

    7. Re:Who knew? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's quite telling when the most popular and useful book about a given programming language goes out of its way to tell you to only use a small subset of the language's functionality. It just goes to show how backward JavaScript is. The less of it you use, the better off you are!

    8. Re:Who knew? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Fine... and you would replace it with??????

    9. Re:Who knew? by marsu_k · · Score: 2

      JavaScript is a fad that's on its way out.

      Which is why node.js is constantly losing popularity and dynamic web pages are being replaced by static ones, right?

      (For the record, this dipship knows more than JS, but thinks that JS, with all its flaws, is mainly misunderstood and especially taught wrong. But many of the flaws could be rectified with the adoption of Harmony - but, while other browsers are quite quick in adapting new technologies, IE will probably prevent the change for many years to come)

    10. Re:Who knew? by slim · · Score: 5, Interesting

      It can't be done. The problem is that the language itself is so horribly broken that anything built upon it, be it libraries, applications, tutorials or books, will inherently be horrible, too. JavaScript just can't be salvaged. It needs to be discarded.

      I used to think this, but I don't any more. The aforementioned Crockford book is the bible on this.

      There is a "pleasant" Javascript community, and what they have done is to separate Javascript into three parts:
        - the good parts -- use them
        - the bad parts -- avoid using them altogether
        - the missing parts -- build acceptable workarounds to these using what's available

      For example, Javascript has a horrible tendency for scripts to pollute the global variable namespace. The community came up with the CommonJS module convention, which solves the problem rather neatly.

    11. Re:Who knew? by marsu_k · · Score: 1

      This book contains what it says on the tin.

    12. Re:Who knew? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      The short book, JavaScript: The Good Parts, by Douglas Crockford ....

      A book on JavaScipt's good parts is short?! I am shocked, sir!

    13. Re:Who knew? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Uhh, nobody actually uses Node.js seriously. It can't exactly "lose popularity" when it's not popular, or even frequently used, in the first place!

    14. Re:Who knew? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The same thing is happening to JavaScript, although it's delayed slightly. It really started taking off around 2008, so it's a couple of years behind Ruby. By 2013, it's likely that JavaScript and its advocates will be widely shunned, too

      I remember using JavaScript back in 99 that's one long ass fad

    15. Re:Who knew? by slim · · Score: 1

      I see where you're coming from, but the book *does* list the bad parts that it suggests you don't use, and they're not *that* numerous.

      The nutty parts are horrible (equality and null and so forth), but he provides rules-of-thumb which, if followed, mean you won't get bitten.

      The book is mostly short because Javascript is a small language.

      The huge JS books are big because they go into great detail about the DOM, which is out of scope for Crockford.

    16. Re:Who knew? by Zero__Kelvin · · Score: 4, Insightful

      The fact remains that a large majority of programmers today would do the world a service by changing careers. The industry is flooded with programmers who cannot program.

      --
      Guns don't kill people; Physics kills people! - John Lithgow as Dick Solomon on Third Rock From The Sun
    17. Re:Who knew? by Zamphatta · · Score: 0

      Isn't that part of the beauty of Open Source though? I love being able to copy-n-paste, to avoid reinventing to wheel or avoid typing all afternoon for something you can do in 20 minutes or less. The problem is "programmers" who don't understand what they just copy-n-pasted, can't tweak it to fit their needs, and don't care to figure out (or learn) what the code is doing.

    18. Re:Who knew? by slim · · Score: 1

      I think the implication is that if it's amenable to copy/paste, it ought to be in a library.

    19. Re:Who knew? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Why do you think you have to be a genius to properly know a programming language? It isn't really that hard, it just takes a bit of effort.

    20. Re:Who knew? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well, the world is full of idiots and thinking you're the exception is a great way of proving the point.

    21. Re:Who knew? by aztracker1 · · Score: 3, Interesting

      I'm afraid I have to agree on this one... Recently a programmer was let go because he simply couldn't creatively code his way out of a paper bag. Of course now I'm stuck picking up the slack, but 1/3 of my time was spent helping the other guy, and most of what he got done is what I actually did.

      --
      Michael J. Ryan - tracker1.info
    22. Re:Who knew? by aztracker1 · · Score: 2

      This is from my own blog... JavaScript Books That Should Be Required Reading, and still pretty relevant.. there are also a couple of APress books for more advanced topics. Also, if you are interested in the language itself, getting into NodeJS, or MongoDB isn't a bad way to do it out of the browser.

      --
      Michael J. Ryan - tracker1.info
    23. Re:Who knew? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      A book on JavaScipt's good parts is short?! I am shocked, sir!

      Not only that, the book is basically:
          * A statement telling you not to use most of the languages features
          * Explains workarounds on how to make Javascript work like different "better" languages.

    24. Re:Who knew? by Scaba · · Score: 5, Insightful

      JavaScript is a fad that's on its way out. The same thing happened to Ruby due to Ruby on Rails. The Ruby hype really started taking off around 2006, but by 2010 people realized how shitty Ruby and RoR actually are. That's why we hear almost nothing about either of them these days. The same thing is happening to JavaScript, although it's delayed slightly. It really started taking off around 2008, so it's a couple of years behind Ruby. By 2013, it's likely that JavaScript and its advocates will be widely shunned, too.

      2008? JavaScript gained widespread popularity around mid-1996, so by your reckoning it should have faded away sometime in 2001. Like all languages, JavaScript has its warts and WTF moments, but it is the poor craftsman who blames his tools, especially if those tools are being used by millions of other craftsman around the world to create all manner of novel and useful applications (to admittedly varying levels of quality, but again that's more about the developer's skill level than the language itself). Solving the JavaScript problem is a simple five-step process, though: create the One Perfect Language, convince the major browser manufacturers to include a flawless implementation, get all of the current JS developers to learn to code in it correctly, rewrite all existing codebases in it, and make the entire world upgrade their browsers. Done! Now, what's for lunch...?

    25. Re:Who knew? by Millennium · · Score: 1

      What are you using for confirmation? NetCraft?

    26. Re:Who knew? by Zamphatta · · Score: 0

      I didn't argue that, I responded to his other point. Sorry, I would've quoted him but I thought that was obvious.

    27. Re:Who knew? by olau · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Douglas Crockford has some weird recommendations that seem to come from him being bitten by evil hacks by a real nutjob once upon a time (maybe himself?). I don't think he represents the majority of Javascript programmers.

      It's a bit like if you were in a C++ team and someone thought it would be fun to overload the + operator to do weird things on ints. Afterwards you're so scared that you go around advocating people use c_mathlibrary_plus(a, b) instead of using + since someone might have hacked the +. IMHO that's not relevant advice for most people.

      Of course, some people think that languages where you can mess with things are evil. But it's not that easy. To take the operator overloading example: If you've ever tried expressing an algorithm involving lots of vector and matrix math in a language that doesn't allow overloading of operators, you'll see what I mean. It's true, of course, that most of the time you should stay far away from that sort of magic, and it's just plain stupid that C++ hints that frivolous operator overloading is okay by doing it in the standard I/O library.

      Same thing with Javascript. The basic stuff will get you through 99.9% of the cases.

    28. Re:Who knew? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You're thinking of the "Web 1.0" JavaScript. It's quite different from JavaScript since around 2008, when jQuery and other frameworks started to get popular, when browser manufacturers started giving a damn about their implementation's performance, and when so-called "Web 2.0" sites started using it heavily.

      The GP is right, though. The "Web 1.0" JavaScript was quite dead by 2001, when the initial hype wore off. There was a big gap between 2001 and about 2008 when Java applets, ActiveX and especially Flash were The Way to make web sites dynamic. It was only with the resurgence of JavaScript in 2008 that it has seen any sort of widespread use.

    29. Re:Who knew? by Hyperhaplo · · Score: 1

      It isn't really that hard, it just takes a bit of effort.

      I have found this to be the root cause of so many problems .. and many disturbances.

      It's amazing what people do when they reach that point in their job where it takes a significant level of knowledge to understand ... that they are not doing their job well .. and sometimes not at all.

      I tend to equal the $$$ in my bank account with the "effort" I put in at work.

      And, in relation to the article, I am looking forward to using this functionality from work :-)

      --
      You have a sick, twisted mind. Please subscribe me to your newsletter.
    30. Re:Who knew? by Ardisson · · Score: 1

      Who said that *working* with someone had to be fun? Working is not gaming. Many developer are not teenagers anymore and prefer doing interesting things over "funny" things.

    31. Re:Who knew? by LingNoi · · Score: 1

      Since you don't understand the point here's another example..

      Many developer are not teenagers

      Developers with an S! MORON!!!! You must be terrible at your job! See the point now?

  2. Re:SINCE WHEN IS HONEYCOMB A DESSERT ?? by Pieroxy · · Score: 2, Funny

    I want to know who at Teh Google screwed that one up !!

    Some group of bears maybe?

  3. Javascript bignum by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Keygen illustrating the use of a Javascript bignum library
    http://pastehtml.com/view/5ucd3ts.html

  4. Not just webmail by MichaelSmith · · Score: 1

    Could be used for web forums too.

    1. Re:Not just webmail by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Only to sign the message (Or you must encrypt the post for everyone authorized to see it )

    2. Re:Not just webmail by Chrisq · · Score: 2

      Could be used for web forums too.

      Only to sign the message (Or you must encrypt the post for everyone authorized to see it )

      Or on slashdot: -----BEGIN PGP MESSAGE-----
      Version: GnuPG v1.0.7 (MingW32)

      hQIOA68nz9GqU7SREAgAxWfwvpziO4N6KquxmeuYD/txfTceyXRZGVqAGFUGmOdE
      +K9PCLp/+p3cFC8OcOZg8WReI4wlpYzgS3/XsB4LL9MegSHwjjI9jNsnQOr9EeLA
      IgDEb1NeXZ499qnSY1ZvCy/VCF1O7H71y77VQTckpfyHgWvzkaaaheMC0r+JGLZO
      0w3NCTERFJ8XaXKz/+qw4gA7xxbpT9nXVXMwEwYgiAviJBJhdYw63oTlRYGgGzPh
      H2YVNv2TWnpWp816xi+sbM1ZsJJERnAZSADKFYZzYw4E73VhUlrX5YBY4WN7UmQw
      yg73zfJYBuJ8+HymPhUUNH7KFqT5T2Cv4TRJgeWvxAgA3/bSCxncZ640z7KlMCMk
      IskJkKRau6jeLJZKheZnyBoYiJLuJw+4FeOIkpk3ZKbWzk18kFT47x5kZA051g/p
      A300n5ivHauHQz8jVTXBNF800YtkknB4+H9q5lnVYik0JsPLKGX+/sjEJ01iWaWl
      wBC3poSYT+l63wNO73CDhx4VbpOzLgzbyNB6O67iuiQm2D9hLwk8L4YPOoMlfwyM
      kUmsZUX709sMBHZN/9aniaVBsLxszHw9xu5OuSz/lHkckplcwb94XDLh1KGGO+1Q
      LzbpFYPqe3BANLK5xxlQAAti/uk0XYltVJfUOCzyxl282X3Tp/77FtiGGb8RI1HY
      hslojkAQa9gK1+f44Y8LwHH5k7fQr+Q+luqP7inoEQWbpWW4hu80Wkafv/bzI/xu
      Z1qGcEVcJGJPP7QwQWUp53FbZuIq742CoxNklwvlnjhEaXa5rG2dmHUREawVzz+q
      M8RkPBZIBge0SVY=
      =WznL
      -----END PGP MESSAGE-----

    3. Re:Not just webmail by MichaelSmith · · Score: 2

      Gives me an idea for a forum which is just a constant stream of encrypted content. Clients decrypt any content they can.

    4. Re:Not just webmail by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You mean like Freenet message boards?

    5. Re:Not just webmail by ak_hepcat · · Score: 1

      | gpg
      gpg: encrypted with 2048-bit ELG-E key, ID AA53B491, created 2001-11-13
                  "Eric L. Howes "
      gpg: decryption failed: secret key not available

      Well, I guess this one isn't for me.

      --
      Support FSF: Stop thinking with your wallet, and think with your imagination. (cc/non-commercial)
    6. Re:Not just webmail by drfreak · · Score: 1

      Interesting idea. Problem is, who gets keys to actually see the messages and what is the method for acquiring them?

    7. Re:Not just webmail by MichaelSmith · · Score: 1

      I think it might be useful for messaging in environments where authorities try to monitor communication. Without the decryption key you just see a stream of encrypted data. Keys would be distributed off-line.

  5. Re:SINCE WHEN IS HONEYCOMB A DESSERT ?? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You've obviously never eaten honeycomb, then.

  6. Isn't encryption in JavaScript considered harmful? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

    http://www.matasano.com/articles/javascript-cryptography/

  7. Cue Atwood's Law comment by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Cue Atwood's Law comment, as found on every JavaScript post.

  8. Re:Yeah right by Chrisq · · Score: 4, Informative
    Where do you get it that anyone but you has your private key? From TFA:

    A PGP user who wants to send and receive encrypted emails from a different computer, would have to install it on that system first, import his private and public keys into the local database, known as the keyring, and then configure his email client.

  9. Whats this obsession for everything in Javascript? by Viol8 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    In the last year or so suddenly everyone seems to write everything in javascript whether appropriate or not. So these guys really think the future of development lies in the browser which will what, replace the OS as the top level development platform? Sorry , but thats rubbish. It aint gonna happen. Too many disperate browsers with their own quirks and bugs, poor performance and ultimately limited functionality.

    So other than "to see if it can be done" what exactly is the point of these projects? However much webdevs might like it to happen, javascript won't be replacing Java, C++ or C# anytime soon for serious development.

  10. What could possibly go wrong? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I'll entrust my keys to code coming from a remote server that now has the ability to send mails as me with non-repudiation and read anything sent to me in ciphertext.

    1. Re:What could possibly go wrong? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      I'll entrust my keys to code coming from a remote server that now has the ability to send mails as me with non-repudiation and read anything sent to me in ciphertext.

      Huh. You probably shouldn't do that. Maybe consider a solution like the one mentioned in the article instead.

  11. Re:SINCE WHEN IS HONEYCOMB A DESSERT ?? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    I've been to the hideout. It ain't pretty, let me tell you.

  12. Re:Whats this obsession for everything in Javascri by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    I'm pretty sure it's appropriate to write a browser extension in javascript, given that its the only language Chrome allows.

  13. Strange. Is this news ? by vikingpower · · Score: 1

    I encountered what was at least a serious attempt to do exaxtly the same thing in the mid-90s. And I used it, too. Together with a colleague. We both worked in a tiny outfit where the boss was meddling in corruption with local politicians and corporate local heroes. Having such a thing as PGP usable in browsers and email clients truly was PGP to us: pretty good protection ( for the evidence we found against our boss ).

    --
    Religous speak to God. Insane are spoken to by God. When all shut up, one can finally hear Shostakovich in peace
    1. Re:Strange. Is this news ? by Robert+Zenz · · Score: 1

      Wait, you mailed encrypted evidence to the clients and would have given them the key in case stuff turned bad?

      Interesting idea, I think it would have been better to mail that to newspapers and maybe directly file a complaint. Though, your business. ... Well, on second thought "get a new job" would have been an appropriate solution, too.

    2. Re:Strange. Is this news ? by vikingpower · · Score: 1

      Well, on second thought "get a new job" would have been an appropriate solution, too.

      Which is what I did. And my colleague as well. We kept the evidence for ourselves, though. Once we got news, about a year later, that our boss was under investigation by a judge, we mailed the evidence to his office.

      --
      Religous speak to God. Insane are spoken to by God. When all shut up, one can finally hear Shostakovich in peace
    3. Re:Strange. Is this news ? by Robert+Zenz · · Score: 1

      The office of the judge or the boss? *eg*

  14. Re:Whats this obsession for everything in Javascri by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

    Email encryption (OpenPGP and SMIME ) is done on the client side. People have to use to email client softwares ( outlook, thunderbird ..etc) to encrypt/sign their messages.
    The problem, what if you dont wanna use an email client ?
    The solution
                        1 - Do it manually ( copy, encrypt/sign , past)
                    OR - Implement it on the "new" client software (ie: the browser )
    The reason of javascript is that chrome extensions are written in that language ( and every browser support it ). Maybe other releases will be implemented in other languages that integrate to browsers ( Dart ? )

  15. Key management by DrXym · · Score: 3, Interesting
    So where do the keys get stored? If it's the HTML web storage, does that mean that you can only store keys per domain? Is that even advisable? And what stops a compromised site from lifting your keys while it's about encrypting or signing a message for you?

    I think for reasons of trust that if you were to use js PGP that it should be from a browser extension that could be reviewed and be within your control to some extent. Or better yet if the js became a core part of a browser where the code could be implicitly trusted. I'd love to see something like Firefox support go further and use a lib like this so unsigned certs could instead describe a web of trust via PGP and modify the manner in which Firefox presents such certs to a user. CAs are the biggest racket on the web and are IMO the biggest impediment to https being the default protocol for web activity.

    1. Re:Key management by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      So where do the keys get stored?

      They get stored in the Article.

      does that mean that you can only store keys per domain?

      That is also in the Article.

      And what stops a compromised site from lifting your keys while it's about encrypting or signing a message for you?

      Try reading the Article.

      I think for reasons of trust that if you were to use js PGP

      And I think that before you start spouting off with an opinion, maybe you should, you know, read the article so you have a clue what the fuck you're talking about.

    2. Re:Key management by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I have had similar thoughts. I have an application where we have to accept personally identifying information, but we only use the data a couple of times per year. Most data of that nature we're able to modify our business processes so we don't need it, but this is required by law. When reviewing the process, we did implement encryption and the database permissions are such that the webserver can not read the stored data. Still if compromised, it could reveal all data entered in the futre (until we remediate the compromise). It would be really nice to have the browser use a public key to encrypt the data; then as long as we kept the private key away from the webserver, even a compromise wouldn't directly reveal data (to be fair, brute force, improper implementations etc could still occur). In my mind at least, that shceme would really take it to the next level.

      I thought of implementing the encryption in javascript, a java applet etc, but if the web server is compromised, then there is nothing that stops the malicious user from modifying the javascript to store the unencrypted values some where, from uploading a new java applet, etc. Ultimately, I really felt it needed to be done in the browser and there should be an out-of-band way of telling the browser we are requesting encryption (i.e. even if the webserver is compromised, if signed DNS records would indicate it should still be encrypted etc). Since browsers already do assymetric encryption, it seemed like it should be possible.

    3. Re:Key management by Beryllium+Sphere(tm) · · Score: 1

      >And what stops a compromised site from lifting your keys while it's about encrypting or signing a message for you?

      A remote site wouldn't be signing something for you given appropriate design. A remote site encrypting something for you would use your public key, which is not a secret.

    4. Re:Key management by Seraphim_72 · · Score: 1

      "I'd love to see something like Firefox support go further and use a lib like this so unsigned certs could instead describe a web of trust via PGP and modify the manner in which Firefox presents such certs to a user. CAs are the biggest racket on the web and are IMO the biggest impediment to https being the default protocol for web activity."

      I give you Convergence: http://convergence.io/

      And the OWASP Keynote where it was presented: http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/17457016/

      --
      Slashdot, where armchair scientists get shouted down and armchair theologians get modded up.
    5. Re:Key management by DrXym · · Score: 1

      Convergence sounds close enough to what I suggested in another thread to make me think it's viable. But only if it becomes more than an extension - every modern browser needs to sign off on the concept and implement the core functionality as part of itself. I also wonder if notaries are enough, or whether it should be a bona fide web of trust. On another thread I suggested that trust for a company like Toys R Us would have more relevance to a visitor if it were signed by Lego, Hasbro, Microsoft, Visa etc. than some faceless CA. i.e. if two sites have a business relationship with each other they should solidify that by signing each other's root certs with some revocation mechanism baked in for when trust breaks down.

  16. Re:Whats this obsession for everything in Javascri by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Would be really cool to see this ported across to gmail. Google is still going to know the contents of your mail during/from compilation but for delivery/verification on the remote side it would be nice.

  17. Re:Isn't encryption in JavaScript considered harmf by sverdlichenko · · Score: 2

    No, it isn't. This article implicitly assumes user trusts server with everything or not at all. Not a case with GMail: in most attack models I can perfectly assume Google will deliver me correct Javascript code over SSL, but never trust it with securing my email content. Account hijacks are quite usual and replacing code on GMail servers is completely another thing.

  18. Beat me to it by cyclomedia · · Score: 1

    Have been working on something similar very very slowly: a single ASP.Net web page (which could easily be ported to PHP no doubt) that acted as a proxy web browser that encrypted its traffic using a GPG key randomly generated (or provided by the user). It'd be text only ( = no accusations of being used for child pr0n or for teh pirates) but the idea would be that anyone could drop it into their own website without having to configure it and instantly people living under opressive censoring regimes (China,Iran,US,etc.) would be able to open that web page and use it as a web browser to get to news sites and the like.

    --
    If you don't risk failure you don't risk success.
    1. Re:Beat me to it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      > It'd be text only ( = no accusations of being used for child pr0n or for teh pirates)

      They could simply encode with http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Base64 . But worry not, people who actually care about cryptography will not use some webpage some guy wrote as a hobby.

  19. Re:Isn't encryption in JavaScript considered harmf by Chrisq · · Score: 4, Informative

    http://www.matasano.com/articles/javascript-cryptography/

    The above was written by someone without an understanding of public key cryptography. All you need to do is ensure that the crypto JavaScript is delivered through a secure channel. Once you have done that you can publish a public key on an insecure site and allow people to send data to you which cannot be intercepted. You can also let them generate a key pair and send you the public key, after which you can send them a response.

  20. not secure by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Because of the security issues raised by any javascript code:
    - transmitted from a potentially rooted server, or
    - intercepted by a MITM attack, or
    - received by a rooted client
    this implementation is not secured as specified in the techworld article

    1. Re:not secure by Chrisq · · Score: 1

      Because of the security issues raised by any javascript code:
      - transmitted from a potentially rooted server, or
      - intercepted by a MITM attack, or
      - received by a rooted client
      this implementation is not secured as specified in the techworld article

      Out of your three objections the second one is the only real concern that does not also apply to SSL. Transmission of the JavaScript does not have to come from the same machine as the one using it. If this catches on I would expect most people would download it from an SSL-secured plugin site. If the client is rooted, then absolutely nothing can protect you, including SSL.

      The only real weakness is the man in the middle attack. Unless you can guarantee that the public certificate is from the source you have problems. SSL gets around this with certification authorities. This is not perfect, but generally works.

      GPG and PGP generally rely on a web of trust. This can work very well among a small group of people - who al trust eachother only to sign a certificate that they have independently verified. If the group has rules that key signatures have to be verified by a phonecall or snailmail this is probably more secure than SSL. On the other hand if you just download certificates from keyservers without verification it does not give you much protection. I don't believe that the web of trust scales to global networks. You might trust all your friends to verify people, and maybe friends of friends too. You can be pretty sure that your friends will be as careful as you. But extend this to firends of friends of friends out to six degrees of separation and you can be pretty sure that there will be a lot of careless or criminal elements in your web.

  21. Re:Whats this obsession for everything in Javascri by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2

    Plagiarist! Almost this exact comment was made 20 years ago:

    In the last year or so suddenly everyone seems to write everything in C whether appropriate or not. So these guys really think the future of development lies in the windows interface which will what, replace the command-line as the top level development platform? Sorry , but thats rubbish. It aint gonna happen. Too many disperate GUIs with their own quirks and bugs, poor performance and ultimately limited functionality.

    So other than "to see if it can be done" what exactly is the point of these projects? However much appdevs might like it to happen, C won't be replacing assembler, Forth or Fortran anytime soon for serious development.

  22. "Wow, there's really no limit to what JS can do!" by dingen · · Score: 5, Insightful

    News flash: turing-complete programming languages can be used to created anything. Why is it news when another random project is done in Javascript?

    --
    Pretty good is actually pretty bad.
  23. Re:Whats this obsession for everything in Javascri by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This epic effort has one reason: ultimate need to get rid of all those machine cycles, which poison our machines. Shame to you, chipmakers!

  24. Re:Whats this obsession for everything in Javascri by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    How about, to solve the problem that I have right now, which I have because of requirments that I cannot escape?

    Just because you think that it's not a good idea to solve a problem that way in the realm of theoretical computer science where you can dictate the appropriate topographical seperation of network layers and clients and servers, and configure them however you like, some people in the real world are simply told: such-and-such a browser will be sending such-and-such a request to you. I want that request fulfilled in such-and-such a way.

    And we have to make it happen.

  25. Re:Whats this obsession for everything in Javascri by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Isn't it obvious ? You have a functionality, like PGP, and you want to make it more rubbish. The easiest path is to implement it in Javascript. For this particular project the "interesting part" is security of private key if you give it to a Javascript. By interesting I of course mean stupid.

  26. Re:Isn't encryption in JavaScript considered harmf by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    But couldn't JavaScript in the mail intercept JavaScript loaded over SSL? After all, it's both running in the same web page, isn't it?

  27. Re:Whats this obsession for everything in Javascri by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Did you even read TFS?

  28. Re:"Wow, there's really no limit to what JS can do by Robert+Zenz · · Score: 1

    Because most of the internet users still use "IE8" or less and therefor see JavaScript as something which sucks, is slow and can't find it's own tail?

  29. Re:"Wow, there's really no limit to what JS can do by vikingpower · · Score: 1

    Amen. Soon, JS will run the stove in my living room. Version 2.0 will also run my lover, making her sit really elegantly with a book on the couch facing that stove.

    --
    Religous speak to God. Insane are spoken to by God. When all shut up, one can finally hear Shostakovich in peace
  30. Re:"Wow, there's really no limit to what JS can do by Chrisq · · Score: 0

    News flash: turing-complete programming languages can be used to created anything.

    That really would be a newsflash. WHat about the halting problem? Or the P=NP problem?

  31. Re:Whats this obsession for everything in Javascri by StripedCow · · Score: 1

    Indeed. What we need is a low-level language without garbage collection.

    Difficult to program by humans.
    Easy to target by a compiler back-end.

    Give us that, and open-source will give us all the tools and libraries to bring webdevelopment to the next level.

    --
    If Pandora's box is destined to be opened, *I* want to be the one to open it.
  32. Re:"Wow, there's really no limit to what JS can do by StripedCow · · Score: 1

    Indeed, it would be way more cool if we would have a compiler back-end that targets javascript.

    --
    If Pandora's box is destined to be opened, *I* want to be the one to open it.
  33. The real point is... by PSVMOrnot · · Score: 2

    News flash: turing-complete programming languages can be used to created anything. Why is it news when another random project is done in Javascript?

    Ah, the old Turing-complete chestnut. Just because something is possible, does not mean it is feasible, practical, or easy. It's probably possible to code it in brainfuck, chef, lolcode or a bunch of rocks but no-one in their right mind would want to.

    What's really interesting about this is that it now brings PGP to almost device with a browser - that is: those with browsers which have javascript support. This gives us such joys as iPhones with PGP that Apple can't suddenly decide they don't want people to have.

    1. Re:The real point is... by dingen · · Score: 1

      Ah, the old Turing-complete chestnut. Just because something is possible, does not mean it is feasible, practical, or easy.

      Doing PGP in Javascript isn't all that different from doing it in any other programming language. The only single difference between doing a random project in Javascript versus Perl, Ruby, Python or whatever is that since all the browsers run JS, the project is accessible to probably the largest possible user base. That makes JS cool to do a project in. But since this is true for everything done in JS, I really don't think it needs to be promoted on the front page every single time someone decides to develop something in Javascript.

      --
      Pretty good is actually pretty bad.
    2. Re:The real point is... by cpuh0g · · Score: 1

      What's really interesting about this is that it now brings PGP to almost device with a browser - that is: those with browsers which have javascript support. This gives us such joys as iPhones with PGP that Apple can't suddenly decide they don't want people to have.

      Apple doesn't give a shit if you have PGP on your iPhone or not. There are some decent PGP apps available for a fair price. http://ipgmail.com/ for example.

  34. Re:Whats this obsession for everything in Javascri by Viol8 · · Score: 1

    "such-and-such a browser will be sending such-and-such a request to you."

    In which case they'll be doing server side development so why exactly would any sane person be using javascript for this? In the "real world" I live in javascript stays in the browser. End of.

    You might want to think through your replies before you start typing.

  35. Next up... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The human brain and the observable universe, implemented in JavaShit... oops Script.

  36. Jolly Good Idea by jenic · · Score: 1

    I'm sure cryptologist's agree! What could possibly go wrong?!

  37. FireGPG by fwice · · Score: 2

    How is this different from FireGPG? With the exception that this is still in development versus the stall in FireGPG?

    1. Re:FireGPG by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      FireGPG does not work with GMail. FireGPG does not work with anything other than Firefox 3 (no, not even Firefox 4, let alone 5, 6, 7 or 8). FireGPG can't be ported to any other browser without a complete reimplementation from scratch.

      Doing it in Javascript adds a lot to its longevity and portability amongst browsers.

    2. Re:FireGPG by crush · · Score: 1

      FireGPG has to call a local copy of GPG outside of the browser. This GPG4Browsers all happens within the browser. The eventual goal seems to be to be able to provide OpenPGP even in environments where GPG is not installed on the OS and the user only has rights to run a web-browser.

      The authors are aware of the following problems in the _prototype_:
            - this uses HTML5 local store which can't be cleared securely
            - it lacks validation of certificates
            - it can't generate keys.

      But it is very interesting. Danke schÃn!

    3. Re:FireGPG by fwice · · Score: 1

      thanks!

  38. Re:Isn't encryption in JavaScript considered harmf by Nerdfest · · Score: 2

    This is something that webmail has need for ages. Encrypted email is relatively easy to implement, and is free, but webmail makes it difficult to do without handing your keys over to a third party (GMail, HotMail, etc). This solves the problem nicely. It would be great to see this, or something similar widely adopted.

  39. It's not that easy: side channel attacks by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Generally speaking, porting cryptographic implementations between systems is not as easy as "do both implementations produce the same output for the many test inputs tried?".

    Proper implementations will mitigate against side channel attacks by:

    • Ensuring loops within crypto implementations execute in constant time regardless of the input (both plaintext and key)
    • Ensuring keypresses are obtained on a poll cycle as opposed to being handled on each interrupt (if the key is inputted via keyboard)
    • Ensuring that keypresses are sent securely from the kernel to a lightweight userspace application that performs the encryption/decryption
    • Avoiding the storage of key material or plaintext in memory where upon deallocation (this could occur without the application having a chance to exit gracefully and overwrite the memory), another process can read the now-free memory region to obtain the key or plaintext
    • Ensuring there is no doubt as to the validity and trustworthiness of passphrase prompts

    I'm skeptical as to whether a web browser implementation (in JavaScript, not part of the browser itself) can address the issues listed above.

    1. Re:It's not that easy: side channel attacks by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Generally speaking, porting cryptographic implementations between systems is not as easy as "do both implementations produce the same output for the many test inputs tried?".

      Proper implementations will mitigate against side channel attacks by:

      • Ensuring loops within crypto implementations execute in constant time regardless of the input (both plaintext and key)
      • Ensuring keypresses are obtained on a poll cycle as opposed to being handled on each interrupt (if the key is inputted via keyboard)
      • Ensuring that keypresses are sent securely from the kernel to a lightweight userspace application that performs the encryption/decryption
      • Avoiding the storage of key material or plaintext in memory where upon deallocation (this could occur without the application having a chance to exit gracefully and overwrite the memory), another process can read the now-free memory region to obtain the key or plaintext
      • Ensuring there is no doubt as to the validity and trustworthiness of passphrase prompts

      I'm skeptical as to whether a web browser implementation (in JavaScript, not part of the browser itself) can address the issues listed above.

      snicker snicker

  40. Re:Isn't encryption in JavaScript considered harmf by sverdlichenko · · Score: 1

    Why would in-mail javascript run at all?

  41. Re:Isn't encryption in JavaScript considered harmf by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    If you have a secure channel, what do you need JavaScript crypto for?

    Just communicate the mails via that channel.

  42. Re:Whats this obsession for everything in Javascri by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    In which case they'll be doing server side development so why exactly would any sane person be using javascript for this? In the "real world" I live in javascript stays in the browser. End of.

    Exactly! Why didn't this asshole just hack into GMails servers, and then configure encryption for every end user in such a way that Google, who will still ultimately have control over the servers, can't decrypt it? I mean seriously, in the "real world" we live in where there servers are controlled by corporations that we don't actually trust, server side development is always the answer.

    You might want to just stop typing.

  43. Re:"Wow, there's really no limit to what JS can do by Splab · · Score: 1

    What about them?

  44. Re:Whats this obsession for everything in Javascri by kensan · · Score: 1

    Encrypting mails you send via webmail without having copy your keys on the server sounds like reasonable usecase.

  45. I tried it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It is hopelessly slow.

  46. Re:SINCE WHEN IS HONEYCOMB A DESSERT ?? by zippthorne · · Score: 1

    It's a "Haute Cuisine" dessert, I think. They sell it at the local boutique over-priced (e.g. organic, etc) food store by me. It doesn't look very appetizing.. do you spit out the wax, or try to eat around it?

    --
    Can you be Even More Awesome?!
  47. Re:Whats this obsession for everything in Javascri by zippthorne · · Score: 1

    You can already get encryption of your link between google and yourself - just use https, or imap with ssl. In fact, I'm pretty sure that https is the default for the web viewer now.

    The article is talking about something different.

    --
    Can you be Even More Awesome?!
  48. Re:Whats this obsession for everything in Javascri by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Hi dare you call chrome a browser! It's a desktop environment dammit!

  49. out-of-band not optional by reiisi · · Score: 1

    A secure out-of-band channel is essential to secure communication.

    One channel is never enough.

    --
    Computer memory is just fancy paper, CPUs just fancy pens with fancy erasers; the 'net is just a fancy backyard fence.
  50. 20 years ago? by reiisi · · Score: 1

    I think you mean thirty?

    Twenty years ago is so, '90s.

    --
    Computer memory is just fancy paper, CPUs just fancy pens with fancy erasers; the 'net is just a fancy backyard fence.
  51. Re:Isn't encryption in JavaScript considered harmf by Zero__Kelvin · · Score: 1

    Because you just need the secure channel to exchange the keys, and once that is done you can use any other channel even when the secure channel is not available to you. This is, in fact, the entire point of cryptography. If everyone had access to a known secure channel of infinite bandwidth at all times, then there would be no need for it.

    --
    Guns don't kill people; Physics kills people! - John Lithgow as Dick Solomon on Third Rock From The Sun
  52. Re:"Wow, there's really no limit to what JS can do by Chrisq · · Score: 1

    What about them?

    It really would be a newsflash if they could be solved in a Turing-complete language.

  53. Re:"Wow, there's really no limit to what JS can do by Zero__Kelvin · · Score: 1

    Unfortunately it won't be until v3 that it can actually get you to realize that the purpose of a lover is something other than to sit elegantly with a book on the couch facing the stove, and even a massively parallel supercomputer will never get you an actual lover, thereby making the code useless.

    --
    Guns don't kill people; Physics kills people! - John Lithgow as Dick Solomon on Third Rock From The Sun
  54. Re:SINCE WHEN IS HONEYCOMB A DESSERT ?? by Abstrackt · · Score: 1

    You pretty much just chew on it until you've managed to get all the honey out then spit out the blob of wax.

    --
    They say a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, but it's not one half so bad as a lot of ignorance. - Terry Pratchett
  55. Re:SINCE WHEN IS HONEYCOMB A DESSERT ?? by schroedingers_hat · · Score: 1

    I've had it before. I don't know if it's treated somehow, but you can just eat the whole lot. It's quite tasty, primarily because of the honey.

  56. Re:"Wow, there's really no limit to what JS can do by dingen · · Score: 1

    What does that have to do with the fact you can create any program with a Turing-complete programming language?

    --
    Pretty good is actually pretty bad.
  57. Re:"Wow, there's really no limit to what JS can do by vikingpower · · Score: 1

    Good point, although the tonal setting seems to veer somewhat toward the hostile, as in : "You poor nerd / geek / ..., you seem not to be able to get / have / keep hold of a lover". Which is not my case. The post was meant i r o n i c a l l y, for the sake of cryin' out loud ***sigh***

    --
    Religous speak to God. Insane are spoken to by God. When all shut up, one can finally hear Shostakovich in peace
  58. OpenPBP? by s_p_oneil · · Score: 1

    If it's using JavaScript, they should call this version OpenPBP.

  59. Re:"Wow, there's really no limit to what JS can do by Zero__Kelvin · · Score: 1

    That tone you are hearing is in your head. Here on Slashdot, nobody can ever have a girlfriend, even if they are married ;-)

    --
    Guns don't kill people; Physics kills people! - John Lithgow as Dick Solomon on Third Rock From The Sun
  60. Not a complete fan of JS by SpaghettiPattern · · Score: 1

    I don't see why all the fuss is made about JS's capabilities. Coming from a very strong Perl/Unix background I see the appealing side of scripting. But if I take into account business programming, JS makes me shiver to the spine.

    I grew up being generally interested in CS and specifically in programming. Most programmers I meet hardly ever cease to amaze me at the nonchalance which they adopt when writing code. You (dis-) qualify yourself with me as soon as the argument of "well it works" pops up. Programming the business logic is the easy part. Handling all possible exceptions whilst maintaining integrity is the hard part. Not reaching a conclusion too soon is also "up there."

    Most programmers I meet can't be arsed to take exceptions and integrity too seriously. Or to continue pondering over a problem. The natural curiosity of finding out stuff and improving oneself every single day is hardly ever there.

    I have adopted the liking of Java for complex solutions. You can only screw up so much in it. And you can program almost anything with it. I like mediocre programmers to write their stuff in Java.
    Anything needing complex, low level system interaction I'd program in Perl. I also appreciate other similar languages that do the same. I prefer mediocre programmers around me not to touch Perl.
    For setting up running environments for programs to run and to program very simple applications, I advocate Bourne Shell (not bash.) One good thing about Bourne/Unix is that mediocre programmers steer clear from AWK.

    Stating that I'm "Not a complete fan of JS" is perhaps an understatement. I find the typing revolting. The means to overload methods. The slightly different method of handling strings compared to Java.

    I have had the misfortune of having to know a product using JS and an open runtime implementation. Knowing what other people did is tedious at best and debugging JS there is pure hell. I pity the folks I left behind.

    So, from a business point of view I loathe JS. And from a hobby point of view I can't be bothered. Why use a scripting language to program complex software when other better maintainable technologies are around? "Because you frigging can!" is the only answer I can think of.

    --

    I hadn't the slightest objection to his spending his time planning massacres for the bourgeoisie... (P.G. Wodehouse)
    1. Re:Not a complete fan of JS by kangsterizer · · Score: 1

      the fuzz is that it can run in the browser sandbox, a requirement for chrome extensions, and for firefox's "restartless" extensions/jetpack (not for the good old ones)

    2. Re:Not a complete fan of JS by dingen · · Score: 1

      Why use a scripting language to program complex software when other better maintainable technologies are around?

      Because of all the devices running a JS-capable browser these days, meaning that your JS-powered application is accessible to virtually every citizen of this planet.

      --
      Pretty good is actually pretty bad.
    3. Re:Not a complete fan of JS by slim · · Score: 1

      The appeal of scripting languages in business apps, to me, is embedding. I don't really care whether it's Javascript, Python, Lua, Groovy or whatever else. Write the core of your application in Java or C, embed a script interpreter, bind some classes/functions and program the high level logic in the more readable, malleable scripting language.

      This doesn't mean that non-programmers can be trusted to write those parts. But it means you can free up cognitive load when writing the business logic; the scripting language letting you express the logic more cleanly.

      JS has the advantage that lots of people know the syntax. See how it's used as the query language for CouchDB for example.

  61. Re:Whats this obsession for everything in Javascri by Viol8 · · Score: 1

    Except a buggy browser needs to store your private key. That doesn't sound so reasonable to me.

  62. Re:"Wow, there's really no limit to what JS can do by vikingpower · · Score: 1

    Ah. My user id is pretty low (though not as low as yours); still, I was never informed of that rule. Although, wait. Hm. You can not prove that tone I am hearing is in my head. Neither can I prove that it is not. Oh Bishop Berkeley, where art thou ?

    --
    Religous speak to God. Insane are spoken to by God. When all shut up, one can finally hear Shostakovich in peace
  63. Re:Whats this obsession for everything in Javascri by kensan · · Score: 1

    Yes, that also raises the question why you read/answer encryption worthy emails via webmail but I would argue it is still an improvement that your key does not need to leave your machine.

  64. Re:"Wow, there's really no limit to what JS can do by Chrisq · · Score: 1

    What does that have to do with the fact you can create any program with a Turing-complete programming language?

    Nothing, but was responding to GGP post saying that they could do anything.

  65. Re:Whats this obsession for everything in Javascri by Hatta · · Score: 0

    So these guys really think the future of development lies in the browser which will what, replace the OS as the top level development platform? Sorry , but thats rubbish. It aint gonna happen.

    Yes, it is going to happen. It is happening, and there's nothing we can do to stop it. Not only that, but hypervisors are becoming fatter, and the BIOS is giving way to UEFI. At some point, there won't be much of a role for the traditional operating system.

    --
    Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
  66. Re:Whats this obsession for everything in Javascri by Necroman · · Score: 1

    Lets play the fill in the blank game!

    COBOL compiles to _________.
    FORTRAN compiles to _________.
    C compiles to ___________.
    Javascript compiles to ___________.

    There really isn't a good way to compile to Javascript because of the amount the backend work that is needed for it to run (garbage collection anyone). They could try to do what "Go" does and include the garbage collection functionality in the system libraries or in the executable.

    Also, no sane OS dev would ever use Javascript for their language of choice. Javascript is a really badly designed language. Unless they take an axe and start removing a lot of the "cruft", it will be shunned by a lot of people still.

    --
    Its not what it is, its something else.
  67. Re:Whats this obsession for everything in Javascri by slim · · Score: 1

    So these guys really think the future of development lies in the browser which will what, replace the OS as the top level development platform? Sorry , but thats rubbish. It aint gonna happen.

    Altogether replace? For everyone? Maybe not.

    But while I use MS Office for my job, *all* my personal word-processing and spreadsheeting is done in Google Docs, and *all* my personal email has been in GMail ever since I got my beta invite -- and I'm not alone. There are flaws in these applications, but they're all outweighed by the ease of moving between computers, and sharing documents with other people.

    You don't have to kill your competition in order to be worth doing.

  68. Re:Whats this obsession for everything in Javascri by Crudely_Indecent · · Score: 1

    It's more portable than anything else, and it's capable of more than popups. I can only see this trend utilizing processing power better than the (now fading) model of "do it all on the server". How many more people will use PGP if it's built into their webmail client? They won't need to install anything, configure anything - just use.

    There are a number of things I'd like to push to the browser. With accompanying server fallbacks, browser processing could greatly reduce my server load which would increase the number of users I could serve.

    Try not to think of it in terms of "if it can be done", think of it more in the terms of "can I distribute the tasks".

    --


    "Lame" - Galaxar
  69. Re:Isn't encryption in JavaScript considered harmf by eli867 · · Score: 1

    Two things: hushmail.com does this. And second, it doesn't really work. If you don't trust your provider (or your connection to the provider) then how do you know your javascript encryption library doesn't have a back door?

  70. nice referrer link! :) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    yes very nice

    1. Re:nice referrer link! :) by marsu_k · · Score: 1

      I just posted the link Amazon search returned (without even being logged in there) so I have no idea what it's referring to, but glad you're happy....

  71. Re:Isn't encryption in JavaScript considered harmf by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    In fact I personally think it is a good choice, can exercise to the child's brain, although he is not very familiar with him, so that he would be better suited to each never seen or didn't touch it .
    www.loveinbridal.com

  72. Re:Racket by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    yes, i agree. the way google-fox tries to scare an end user just because someone hasn't given symantec their blood money is sickening

  73. Re:"Wow, there's really no limit to what JS can do by oPless · · Score: 1

    Your user id isn't what I call low at all.

    Sigh

    Kids

  74. Re:Whats this obsession for everything in Javascri by aztracker1 · · Score: 1

    Nothing is forcing anyone to use the "cruft" though.. there are corner cases in every language that can be considered *very* bad form.

    --
    Michael J. Ryan - tracker1.info
  75. Re:Isn't encryption in JavaScript considered harmf by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    But you do not need a secure channel to exchange the keys if you use asymmetric encryption mechanisms like RSA or ElGamal. You need trust/authentication to know that the public key is legit.

    Having a secure channel as a prerequisite is disingenious. If you presume to already have a secure channel available, then why not just swap symmetric keys over that. Of just send the message there, if it has a lot of bandwidth.

    This is what Matasano page is arguing. You need a secure transport layer to transport the Javascript and all the content. But, if you have a secure transport layer with that much bandwidth available, you have no need for Javascript encryption.

  76. Re:Whats this obsession for everything in Javascri by Thundersnatch · · Score: 1

    Javascript is the only language actually delivering on the promise of "write-once-run-anywhere." Well, "anywhere" that has a web browser, which is just about any device that does human interaction these days. All the other languages you mentioned have numerous environmental dependencies (separately installed run-times, OS specific conditionals, browser plug-ins, compiler specifics, etc.). Javascript sucks in many ways, but it sucks less than the alternatives for building an application quickly that can work just about anywhere.

  77. Re:"Wow, there's really no limit to what JS can do by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    And they're right even if they don't use IE8 or below, how funny.

  78. Re:"Wow, there's really no limit to what JS can do by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    > Indeed, it would be way more cool if we would have a compiler back-end that targets javascript.

    Should read:

    Indeed, it would be way more cool if we would have a compiler back-end *besides GWT* that targets javascript.

  79. Re:Isn't encryption in JavaScript considered harmf by GPLHost-Thomas · · Score: 1

    That is, if you trust SSL and the certificate things, and trust that DigiNotar event can't happen, that there's no evil government running their own root CA, etc. To me, that's a big IF !

  80. Re:Whats this obsession for everything in Javascri by GPLHost-Thomas · · Score: 0

    The problem, what if you dont wanna use an email client ?

    If you don't want to use an email client, don't read/write emails. End of the story...

  81. Re:Isn't encryption in JavaScript considered harmf by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    greasemonkey

  82. Re:Whats this obsession for everything in Javascri by Viol8 · · Score: 1

    The traditional operating system controls access to hardware, virtual memory, provides an API and schedules processes. Something will still have to do that so the "traditional" OS isn't going anywhere. It'll probably just be less obvious.

  83. Re:Whats this obsession for everything in Javascri by base698 · · Score: 1

    However much webdevs might like it to happen, javascript won't be replacing Java, C++ or C# anytime soon for serious development.

    As someone who has developed Java professionally for a while, I can say that having to pepper 100s of interfaces in the code just to do a closure then write a bunch of cruft to use it is kind of annoying. Not to mention Java the most verbose language gave birth to a bastard child for configuration: XML. I prefer to build cool stuff, not write a bunch of needless code. If JavaScript replaces Java it will be because the JavaScript shops developed better software, faster while the Java shops where writing XML. I have been doing 90% JavaScript the past year or two, solely because of the faster dev times and it's a better language than Java.

  84. Broken by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Installed it, it fired correctly once, but no won't pop up for pgp signed emails anymore. Creating a public key doesn't work. Pretty much broken out of the box.

  85. Re:Yeah right by Scaba · · Score: 1

    ...import his private and public keys into the local database...

    That's what they want you to think....

  86. Re:Isn't encryption in JavaScript considered harmf by Martin+Blank · · Score: 3, Informative

    Hushmail lost a lot of credibility a few years ago when it turned out that its most commonly-used encryption method that ran server-side was delivered in a modified state at the request of government agencies. Yes, there are issues with trusting anything server-side, but its promises started sounding hollow when the CTO openly admitted it.

    If you built your own applet from the public source code, the interception was not an issue, but if you used the easier mechanism hosted by Hushmail, you were at risk of your mail being decrypted and turned over.

    http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2007/11/encrypted-e-mai/

    --
    You can never go home again... but I guess you can shop there.
  87. Re:Whats this obsession for everything in Javascri by Viol8 · · Score: 1

    "ease of moving between computers,"

    Who moves between computers to do documentation? I mean really, is your company so skint it can't afford laptops and you have to work in netcafes?

  88. Good for freedom by cryfreedomlove · · Score: 1

    This will make basic encrypted messaging tough to block by oppressive regimes like Iran and China. This is good for basic personal freedom.

  89. Re:Isn't encryption in JavaScript considered harmf by Lennie · · Score: 1

    A secure channel: like a for example a browser extension loaded from your local HDD/SDD ? Which this is.

    --
    New things are always on the horizon
  90. Re:Isn't encryption in JavaScript considered harmf by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I think you have to re-read the link.

    However true it is what is said there, truth of the matter is that one thing is security as is considered in cryptography literature (an ideal concept), and another is practical security. JS-based cryptography does add to practical security, but it s very important to read that link and know its limitations.

    About the value of JS-based crypto over SSL... well... SSL can now be compromised in a number of ways. JS-based crypto provides protection that is somewhat orthogonal to SSL. If SSL is broken for eavesdropping (as are the latest attacks on it, like BEAST), but not forging, JS-based crypto will protect the contents, since the JS code will still be secure. If SSL is broken for forging, JS-based crypto is doomed, but also is SSL itself. So, overall, the system would be more secure.

    And, SSL or not, JS-crypto or not, phishing is still possible. It is actually quite possible to not break any encryption and still collect authentication tokens from users. So, with that huge flaw in all security schemes, crypto literature would consider the system insecure already even if all were to be plaintext. But security researchers don't, because they do know the difference between ideal and practical security.

    Ideal security is an oxymoron.

  91. Re:Isn't encryption in JavaScript considered harmf by yuhong · · Score: 1

    Don't forget XSS attacks. XHTML can help here by its strict error handing, and I have suggested logging XML errors to a server before.

  92. Great for Embedded Computers and phones. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I have a closed-source WiFi phone that has a Netfront browser with a decent implementation of Javascript. This same WiFi phone also has some minimal file manipulation tools, a text editor, and a media capturer and player. What it doesn't have is the ability to encrypt files that I don't want to be readily usable, such as some audio recordings of interrogations as well as a text file containing a list of my registrations to websites each with a hint of what my written password could be. I would like to encrypt a number of these mp3 and txt files so anyone performing a search at an airport will not copy them in their moment of leisurable search to curiously pick at my career or eavesdrop just because he didn't like my attitude in the search line. This has been the case for me and encryption ever since I was visitted by dirty COPS in California, whom sacked my car for no reason and just started copying all my data and mishandling expensive camera equipment; they just looked at me and gave a bullshit reason, wouldn't say why they were doing, and used force to prevent me from locking anything from their prying, and no complaint filed and no reason and no warrant. I was slammed onto the hood of their cruiser because they didn't like my few relevent questions and how I asked those question. When back at their police station, they just stared me down like a priest I didn't give a tythe unto, and after searching through all my stuff one of them starting showing a soft spot and tried to casually converse with me but I wouldn't have it.

    Encryption is the invention for a society that is dying. Data needs to be protected by bullets and knives from these bastards in government that demand everyone pay their living even when they do as the Fire Truck Drivers in responding to ambulance emergencies with their full crew just so they can log their division's activity as reason to not get layed-off for lack of an arson helping them out once in a while.

  93. Re:Isn't encryption in JavaScript considered harmf by miserere+nobis · · Score: 1

    No it wasn't, the author of that article specifically takes on the idea of the crypto being delivered through a secure channel, having two basic objections: 1) If you have a secure channel already, then you don't need JavaScript encryption; and 2) JavaScript is completely malleable at runtime, and so you can't guarantee that running code, or the functions/libraries/objects on which it depends (down to the very basic JavaScript objects), will remain unmodified and trustworthy.

    The first issue applies to a little different problem than the one being solved here. While the author was considering client-server communications, what we're dealing with here is a different use: end-to-end email encryption. That is, the browser-GMail encryption of the user session and all its contents is already taken care of by HTTPS, but GMail still knows what your email contains. This is, as I understand it, an attempt to encrypt/decrypt the text of the email on the client, such that GMail would only see the ciphertext and never receive the cleartext at all.

    Fine in theory, but the second issue would seem to me to still apply. I haven't looked at their source, so maybe they've found a way to avoid this, but if any code from a server can interact with the code from this plugin, then it isn't obvious how the code remains trustworthy, no matter how secure the original channel was through which it was loaded.

  94. Any javascript tool to scramble video data? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    All I see are Javascript cut'n'paste text encryption tools and that realy sucks because not all clients have a cut'n'paste ability. I need an implementation that I can direct to a video file and makes another one with encryption while giving me a key as it deletes the source. That's what it's about, not a Browser plug-in or add-on but an actual Javascript emplementation.

    I looked High and low, and haven't found one yet. Can you?

  95. Re:Whats this obsession for everything in Javascri by drfreak · · Score: 2

    Link-level, yes. However, what if google's certificate got hacked? With your emails signed and encrypted (especially on the client side) it would add en extra layer of security.

  96. Re:Isn't encryption in JavaScript considered harmf by sverdlichenko · · Score: 1

    I honestly believe being another DigiNotar event victim is a few orders of magnitude less likely then having some script kiddie hack my account.

  97. Re:"Wow, there's really no limit to what JS can do by vikingpower · · Score: 1

    Ach, mein Gott. A granddad of computing deigns to pay me a visit !! :-))

    --
    Religous speak to God. Insane are spoken to by God. When all shut up, one can finally hear Shostakovich in peace
  98. Re:Isn't encryption in JavaScript considered harmf by GPLHost-Thomas · · Score: 1

    You are being extremely naive. There was about 3 registrar issues last summer, and it's a well known FACT that governments (at least China and USA) are playing with certs (there was some real life cases reported, it's not just wild guesses here...). So if a government wants to get your key, it'd be really easy for them to replace the HTTPS hosted javascript. Do not forget too that there's the patriot act, and that you may very well be considered as a terrorist (everybody is, these days).

  99. Re:Whats this obsession for everything in Javascri by slim · · Score: 1

    I said it was for personal stuff. I can get at my Google Docs on my laptop, on my home desktop, on my partner's PC, on my parents' PC... anywhere.

    That said, if I ran my own company, I'd use Google Docs too.

  100. Gmail Encryption by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It is OK - but - Implementing encryption on Gmail should be something Google shall be offering right out of the box - Otherwise, every time there is a new Browser version or a change on Gmail's interface it will then be hard to keep up by add-ons developers. One thing I like on Go Daddy's webmail accounts is that it comes with an easy to use function to send encrypted messages without leaving the browser or interact with any add-ons. It is a password protection model (which means it doesn't handle private an public keys) but it is just more practical since you don't have to convince, and sometimes teach, people you want to communicate securely to set up and learn how to use certificates and or public or private keys. Maybe Google will say: If we enable encryption how we are supposed to serve ads? Well, maybe instead of "reading" the users email to find keywords to serve ads - Maybe it will be better to et the users to choose the Keywords to serve such ads. I mean, an email can have hundreds of words and sometimes I see gmail ads of words I mention when composing or reading an email - but the ads really don't match my interest at all. Cappicci?

  101. Re:"Wow, there's really no limit to what JS can do by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    News flash: turing-complete programming languages can be used to created anything. Why is it news when another random project is done in Javascript?

    It's news that someone did it, not news that it was possible. If China landed on the Moon tomorrow, would you say "Why is that news? Everyone already knew it was possible?"

  102. Re:SINCE WHEN IS HONEYCOMB A DESSERT ?? by sdw · · Score: 1

    Are you the only one who realizes that "Honeycomb" refers to the cereal product? Really?

    --
    Stephen D. Williams
  103. Re:"Wow, there's really no limit to what JS can do by oPless · · Score: 1

    :-)