Lockbox Aims To NSA-Proof the Cloud

Daniel_Stuckey writes "Lockbox, a tech startup founded in 2008, just received $2.5 million in seed funding for its end-to-end encryption cloud service, Client Portal. So, how does end-to-end cloud encryption work? Lockbox encrypts and compresses files before they are uploaded to the cloud. Only a person in possession of the corresponding key can unlock, or decrypt, the files. This means that the NSA, malicious hackers, business competitors, and even crazy girlfriends and boyfriends won't be be able to peer into users' most sensitive and private files."

Comments

I like the idea

[bondsbw]

But I prefer that my encryption tool and my cloud storage service be completely separate. (How do I know Lockbox isn't sending the keys to the NSA, or whoever?)

Re:I like the idea

[Garridan]

Yup. It's only secure as your OS, and the NSA pwns that. Always airgap your private key, or it's theirs.

Re:I like the idea

[JWSmythe]

A friend of mine offered that kind of service quite a few years ago.

It was a backup service. The user had the key. It was encrypted on the user's site, and only encrypted data sent up to the server.

It's not novel. It's a slashvertisment. {sigh}

Re:I like the idea

[mysidia]

It would defeat the point. You can probably safely assume they are not sending them right now.

The problem is: in the future, when more than 2 people start using their service --- the chance gets higher and higher over time, that NSA agents will descend upon them, and provide a legal order requiring they insert backdoors into their service, or protocol, or otherwise: provide the NSA with the resources required to get at the content, AND requiring they tell nobody.

In other words : No US-based cloud service can really fight the NSA; unless they are prepared to shutter the service and go to jail for the cause, which is not likely.

An overseas service is even better for the NSA getting a better chance at capturing the data -- because the things that are legal for them to do expand; gathering intelligence on overseas communications falls within their government mandate; and the techniques they employ could espionage, infiltration into the organization providing the service; and include compromise of computer systems and implanting malware bugs.

Re:I like the idea

[0111 1110]

I don't think an overseas service is better for the NSA. They don't have to even pretend to have ethical or legal constraints, but they are limited by international politics. They are stuck asking for cooperation. Or trying to bribe the right people. Within the US they have the full force of the US government behind them and can simply put uncooperative people in jail.

Nevertheless things have reached a point where you might get idealogically motivated people starting anti-NSA encryption systems and there isn't much the NSA can do against someone willing to risk prison or flee the country or shut down their entire company rather than deal with the devil. The NSA and the government in general are used to dealing with people who are easily controlled with nothing more than money.

But, yeah, the NSA can at least shut down pretty much any US based centralized system intended to fight them. Outside of North America and Western Europe it's a different story though. They don't have any legal power to shut down anything over there.

Re:I like the idea

[VortexCortex]

But I prefer that my encryption tool and my cloud storage service be completely separate. (How do I know Lockbox isn't sending the keys to the NSA, or whoever?)

It's pointless anyway against the NSA. Seriously. Every single modern operating system (including on routers) has tons of unpatched exploit vectors. There's even a black market for them. The NSA can just infect your machines and ex-filtrate your data and/or the encryption keys... See the previous story:

[NSA] Budget documents say the $652 million project has placed 'covert implants,' sophisticated malware transmitted from far away, in computers, routers and firewalls on tens of thousands of machines every year, with plans to expand those numbers into the millions.

Hell we have multiple celebrations of insecurity every year called "computer security conferences" where without fail new systems are compromised. How can you even look at stuff like Pwn 2 Own, and not have your brain melting in cognitive dissonance as you try to believe there are network attached scenarios where your data is safe from the NSA?

You want your data kept secret? Use whole drive encryption on machines that are never connected to any networks -- And even then there's the Ken Thompson Microcode Hack, so your systems could be theoretically pre-hacked from the factory... I won't buy a CPU that has remote cellular capabilities... Like Intel's Sandy Bridge. Laughed my ass off when I heard about that! "Security Feature" indeed. At least if the machine can't get on the networks there's a much lower chance of your data escaping if it's pre-hacked.

I don't know of any hacker worth their salt -- black, gray or white hat -- that doesn't have a directory of unpatched zero day exploits.
I keep mine in: ~/with/great/power/comes/great/responsibility/
Me having to navigate the directory structure has saved many a newb... The NSA has no such sensibilities.
If the data's encrypted, they assume it could be from a foreigner, and thus give themselves license to get at it, and they can.
This is what happens when you let Threat Narrative run amok.

Re:I like the idea

[vux984]

In other words : No US-based cloud service can really fight the NSA;

The key to fighting the NSA is to provide a completely transparent API.

And then rely on 3rd parties to deliver software that uses the API.

Even if the NSA knows that I have account with the cloud service, they don't know what client I use, (and even if i do, the client is on my equipment not "service based" there is no easy target to send a gag order too.

Essentially, dropbox, skydrive etc are all perfectly suitable cloud services.

What we need is them to do isopen them up wide open to 3rd party client development.

Re:I like the idea

[Andtalath]

Tpb was raided due to a threat from USA regarding an embargo towards Sweden.

So, well, if bloody Hollywood can put that type of pressure on a country, I believe a branch of the government can as well.

Re:I like the idea

[Anonymous Coward]

Tarsnap should also be mentioned in this context. It's a business started by Colin Percival, noted cryptographer and BSD developer. The client is 100% open source and runs on your machine. When Colin developed Tarsnap he found existing key derivation functions lacking, so he developed his own memory hard scrypt, which has found wide applications in other areas.

The major problem with "encrypted cloud" solutions is that encryption severely limits what can be done in the cloud. You can basically do encrypted file storage. You can't run virus or spam filters on your data, you can't index it and search it etc. So all the useful features we have in a Gmail session need to awkwardly and inefficiently be re-implemented on the client side.

The providers have very little incentive to do this and transform ad supported free services into paid ones (since data mining no longer works, ad revenue drops dramatically). While I would love encrypted email for everyone, it just won't happen for economic reasons. The NSA affair will be quickly forgotten and people will return to business as usual.

Re:I like the idea

[TheRaven64]

Full homomorphic encryption is really hard. Homomorphic encryption allows you to encrypt your data, do some computation on the result, and then perform some operation on the output to get the same result as doing the operation on the unencrypted data. Current solutions are at least a factor of 1000 slower than doing it on unencrypted data, but that's only for general case. There are ways of encrypting data that preserve certain properties so you can, for example, perform simple database operations on it in the encrypted form and only interpret the results if you hold the keys. The down side of these approaches is that they increase the size (effectively doubling it for every primitive operation that you want to support), but with storage becoming cheap they may become interesting...

Re:I like the idea

[Anonymous Coward]

if bloody Hollywood can put that type of pressure on a country, I believe a branch of the government can as well.

Hollywood is a branch of the US government!

Re:I like the idea

[Joce640k]

What's to stop me encrypting my files then putting them on normal dropbox?

Re:I like the idea

[Zimluura]

tinfoil hats used to be a fashion choice. now they're a necessity.

Re:I like the idea

[Zontar The Mindless]

Thank goodness most of those chips are made in China!

Re:I like the idea

[Luckyo]

You misunderstand. Hollywood is the propaganda arm of US government. As a result, while it does enjoy significant protection of US government as to enable it to perform its task (financially self-sustainable domestic and international propaganda), it most certainly does not command US government beyond its ability to influence the puppets, otherwise known as politicians in the same way that other similar agencies can influence the same puppets.

It still has to combat all the other agencies, and in that game agencies like NSA and CIA hold much stronger cards as they have blackmail material on everyone, as well as ability to simply remove people they do not want.

Re:I like the idea

[RespekMyAthorati]

How about having a separate computer, not on the internet, that does the encryption?

If only the hardware wasn't already compromised

[ReallyEvilCanine]

Without known-secure hardware and and OS to run it, all the fucking encryption in the world don't mean squat. And before the fanbois scream, "Lunix is Teh Shiznit Seckyoor!" remember that you have to know the compiler is safe as well (*cough*Ken*Thompson*cough*).

Re:If only the hardware wasn't already compromised

[Microlith]

The thing about Ken Thompson's theoretical attack is that it would inevitably be detected. It's an interesting thought experiment, but a functioning example that would be able to discern the right program to attack (and differentiate between a kernel and a userspace application) has not been shown as far as I am aware.

the cloud is dead

[0111 1110]

At best the service will simply be shut down by the NSA if they cannot compromise it. Lockbox claims to use client side encryption. If the system is executed perfectly and all of your data is fully encrypted before it leaves your computer this might be difficult, but if the service is shut down you will probably lose your data anyway. Which means you will need a local backup which would seem to ruin the point. I think it's about time to admit that saving any data on a remote server in the US, UK, or close allies of either has to be considered to be stored by the NSA/GCHQ and forwarded to other law enforcement agencies if deemed appropriate. And international cooperation in this regard among close allies cannot be ruled out.

In the sort of privacy-hostile environment currently faced in the US, UK and much of the world going full tin foil hat is the only way. Any information you want to remain private has to be encrypted by a system fully under your control before it leaves your computer and your passphrase has to not just be secure, but NSA/GCHQ secure. And it wouldn't hurt to toss in some multifactor authentication and steganography as well.

Need to close their US office

[bradley13]

Seriously. If they want to be taken seriously as offering a service proof against the NSA, they need to not be an American company and to not have any physical US operations. Otherwise a secret FISA order (e.g., issue a client update that sends the encryption keys along with the next batch of data), and their customers are screwed.

No cloud service (or any other service) in the US can be trusted.