Show HN: Arc – secure file archiver • Hacker News Board

Show HN: Arc – secure file archiver

#1

Post by arete » Tue, May 31, 2016, 5:40 PM UTC

Show HN: Arc – secure file archiver
github.com

Re: Show HN: Arc – secure file archiver

#2

Post by Longhanks » Tue, May 31, 2016, 6:08 PM UTC

Not a very creative name. There is enough IT related products with the name Arc already.

Re: Show HN: Arc – secure file archiver

#3

Post by ddorian43 » Tue, May 31, 2016, 6:29 PM UTC

Longhanks wrote: post #2

Not a very creative name. There is enough IT related products with the name Arc already.

I'm starting to see this way too often. No one cares.

Re: Show HN: Arc – secure file archiver

#4

Post by jjnoakes » Tue, May 31, 2016, 6:30 PM UTC

ddorian43 wrote: post #3

Longhanks wrote: post #2

Not a very creative name. There is enough IT related products with the name Arc already.

I'm starting to see this way too often. No one cares.

Clearly at least one person cares, or he wouldn't have commented about it.

Not that the comment was useful.

But neither was yours.

Re: Show HN: Arc – secure file archiver

#5

Post by thesimon » Tue, May 31, 2016, 6:31 PM UTC

ddorian43 wrote: post #3

Longhanks wrote: post #2

Not a very creative name. There is enough IT related products with the name Arc already.

I'm starting to see this way too often. No one cares.

Sort of agree, but the title made me think of https://www.arqbackup.com

Quite close field to be honest.

Re: Show HN: Arc – secure file archiver

#6

Post by josho » Tue, May 31, 2016, 7:01 PM UTC

This is the first that I've heard of ChaCha for encryption (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salsa20#ChaCha_variant).

Apparently it's a standard that Google is pushing to replace RC4 and already is using for HTTPS between google.com and Android.

If arc catches on I'm curious if it could support inline operations. E.g. on a 100gb+ archive can I read the tar index without decrypting the entire archive first, can I extract a single file? The ChaCha algorithm is a streaming cipher, which as I understand suggests that I cannot do operations like that.

Even worse now that I'm thinking about this, if my archive has a bit error early in the file does that mean the entire archive cannot be decrypted. Maybe for long term storage I'm better off physically securing my archives than encrypting them to avoid bit rot ruining everything.

Re: Show HN: Arc – secure file archiver

#7

Post by koolba » Tue, May 31, 2016, 7:05 PM UTC

josho wrote: post #6

This is the first that I've heard of ChaCha for encryption ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salsa20#ChaCha_variant ). Apparently it's a standard that Google is pushing to replace RC4 and already is using for HTTPS between google.com and Android. If arc catches on I'm curious if it could support inline operations. E.g. on a 100gb+ archive can I read the tar index without decrypting the entire archive first, can I extra…

> Maybe for long term storage I'm better off physically securing my archives than encrypting them to avoid bit rot ruining everything.

Just have more copies on more/diverse media. Encrypted backups (with authenticated encryption) have the pleasant side effect of validating the backup on restore.

Re: Show HN: Arc – secure file archiver

#8

Post by ejcx » Tue, May 31, 2016, 7:08 PM UTC

Longhanks wrote: post #2

Not a very creative name. There is enough IT related products with the name Arc already.

I think it's a great name.

The author probably has this as a binary living in his PATH so they can just type

    $ arc

It might be obvious, but who wants a long or strange name when you're using a command line utility often.

Re: Show HN: Arc – secure file archiver

#9

Post by valarauca1 » Tue, May 31, 2016, 7:12 PM UTC

josho wrote: post #6

This is the first that I've heard of ChaCha for encryption ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salsa20#ChaCha_variant ). Apparently it's a standard that Google is pushing to replace RC4 and already is using for HTTPS between google.com and Android. If arc catches on I'm curious if it could support inline operations. E.g. on a 100gb+ archive can I read the tar index without decrypting the entire archive first, can I extra…

If you are seriously concerned with the effects of Bit Rot on long term storage I suggest you invest in Magnetic Tapes. Which can be insured against bit rot for >300 years (Yes IBM and Oracle sells insurance for this, but only on IBM tape's/decks, they'll also have to inspect your storage facility).

With highly specialized requirements comes highly specialized solutions.

Re: Show HN: Arc – secure file archiver

#10

Post by arete » Tue, May 31, 2016, 7:19 PM UTC

koolba wrote: post #7

josho wrote: post #6

This is the first that I've heard of ChaCha for encryption ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salsa20#ChaCha_variant ). Apparently it's a standard that Google is pushing to replace RC4 and already is using for HTTPS between google.com and Android. If arc catches on I'm curious if it could support inline operations. E.g. on a 100gb+ archive can I read the tar index without decrypting the entire archive first, can I extra…

> Maybe for long term storage I'm better off physically securing my archives than encrypting them to avoid bit rot ruining everything. Just have more copies on more/diverse media. Encrypted backups (with authenticated encryption) have the pleasant side effect of validating the backup on restore.

Indeed. One use case I have in mind is using the Shamir Secret Sharing mode to create N backups on separate flash drives stored in diverse locations.