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Horcrux: Split your file into encrypted fragments

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Re: Horcrux: Split your file into encrypted fragments

#141

Maybe it's too naïve of a question, but why not just using XORs? Let's say we have a file that we want to split into 4 encrypted shards. We could just generate 3 random files, and make the fourth one be a bitwise XOR of the 3 files plus the original one. Then, doing a bitwise XOR of the 4 encrypted shards will return the original file. Assuming the PRNGs are unbiased, how would this method not be safe enough?

[deleted]

Re: Horcrux: Split your file into encrypted fragments

#142

Maybe it's too naïve of a question, but why not just using XORs? Let's say we have a file that we want to split into 4 encrypted shards. We could just generate 3 random files, and make the fourth one be a bitwise XOR of the 3 files plus the original one. Then, doing a bitwise XOR of the 4 encrypted shards will return the original file. Assuming the PRNGs are unbiased, how would this method not be safe enough?

In case this method makes sense, I'm already registering the EXOrDIA name for a python package: https://github.com/juancroldan/exordia

Re: Horcrux: Split your file into encrypted fragments

#143

Maybe it's too naïve of a question, but why not just using XORs? Let's say we have a file that we want to split into 4 encrypted shards. We could just generate 3 random files, and make the fourth one be a bitwise XOR of the 3 files plus the original one. Then, doing a bitwise XOR of the 4 encrypted shards will return the original file. Assuming the PRNGs are unbiased, how would this method not be safe enough?

With XOR you need all the shards to restore the file. With SSS you can lose a predefined number of shards and still restore the file with the other shards.

Re: Horcrux: Split your file into encrypted fragments

#144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a ridiculous take, Rowling is basically a cookie cutter late-second wave feminist, exactly the kind of person you'd expect a liberal in the 80s to be. And since I assume you're inferring she's conservative from the popular opinion that she's anti-trans, if you read her political views, she supports transgender rights unequivocally but doesn't like what she perceives as MtF support encroaching on support syste…

There's also that one of her pen names was also the name of the guy who decided that gay conversion therapy didn't have enough electroshock involved. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Galbraith_Heath

Is there any reason to think that she had even ever heard of him when choosing that pen name? It's not as if "Robert" and "Galbraith" are unusual names. For that matter, Rowling has said where she took the names from, and unless she's flatly lying about that then there's no connection with this guy.

Re: Horcrux: Split your file into encrypted fragments

#145

There was a post about shamir secret sharing recently by levchin (and chaos that it caused at paypal): https://max.levch.in/post/724289457144070144/shamir-secret-s... This is 100% one of my favorite algorithms, but I have to say I've started to wonder if I just have an academic fascination with it and the practical use cases are more limited (limiting?) than I think

Shamir's Secret Sharing is basically perfect for nerdsniping.

It is simple enough to understand without hardly any crypto background or advanced math. You basically just need a bit of algebra. It is surprising that it is possible at all. It has a clearly visible concrete use case (at least at first). It is something that you can implement yourself (though there are still footguns).

This, IMO, leads to its wild overrepresentation in discussion forums and even overrepresentation in industry solutions.

Re: Horcrux: Split your file into encrypted fragments

#146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What about using it to share information with people for them to use in an emergency. Data is stored in multiple locations, but only someone with access to 3 of them would be able to read the data. The existing physical access controls would be the actual safety mechanism. A thief would have to break into 3 locations in order to get the data. We could just encrypt the data and then split the password into three piece…

Except that there are problems with the emergency scenario on both sides: - In an actual urgent emergency, getting in touch with the 3 people and getting the data might be difficult and take days/weeks. One is on vacation, another is going to take a couple of days to try to remember where they stored the USB key... - And nothing limits it to emergencies. The 3 people can just get together immediately and examine the…

Worse than that. "Oh fuck, I lost that thing" is going to be a common occurrence in these scenarios. Data lost forever. You can then go to K-of-N schemes or whatever, but the truth is that if you don't have a professional obligation to keep some data safe and accessible, people will simply lose it (and this will still happen in plenty of cases where you do have a professional obligation).

Re: Horcrux: Split your file into encrypted fragments

#147
post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be fair, the creator of HP is a crazy conservative. So, the idea of "Whore crux" being an attempt of fighting promiscuity isn't surprising.

This is a ridiculous take, Rowling is basically a cookie cutter late-second wave feminist, exactly the kind of person you'd expect a liberal in the 80s to be. And since I assume you're inferring she's conservative from the popular opinion that she's anti-trans, if you read her political views, she supports transgender rights unequivocally but doesn't like what she perceives as MtF support encroaching on support syste…

> a cookie cutter late-second wave feminist

Not a terribly large number of these people are allying themselves with people who want to ban abortion because they have similar goals around restricting trans rights.

> she supports transgender rights unequivocally

And yet platforms people who publicly say that all trans people should be forcibly sterilized against their will as a matter of public policy.

Re: Horcrux: Split your file into encrypted fragments

#148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My blind stab at it is this encryption always produces an output that's not validated to be what was originally encrypted and it does so in a way you could even intentionally damage a specific portion of the data without needing to know how to decrypt it. Curious to see how wrong I am :).

That's right, there's no guarantee the data hasn't been tampered with after encryption. The mechanics of the tampering you could do depend on the cipher mode you use. To give a simplified example (which doesn't match what this program does but is useful to demonstrate), ECB is the simplest mode (which really shouldn't be used for anything). Your input is split into fixed-length blocks (16 bytes for AES) and each bloc…

I just finished the first 11 challenges, including detecting ECB ciphers.

Thank you for sharing these! They are very fun and interesting challenges.

Re: Horcrux: Split your file into encrypted fragments

#149
post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I couldn't disagree more. You can easily twist his letters to his son to create this narrative. If you read it as a whole his message isn't at all anti-marriage, he was a devout Christian who believed wholeheartedly in marriage. His message was that marriage takes sacrifice, faith, and a conscious effort (in his opinion specifically on the side of the man). It's a bit Kierkegaardian.

I think that might mean we agree. I guess I should have said I thought it ostensibly false .

Whoops, I totally misinterpreted that! Apologies.

Re: Horcrux: Split your file into encrypted fragments

#150
post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, when it's put like that ^^. It's just that I never thought about it in that way, that outlook took me by surprise :). I read the Howard Carter biography more than 25 years ago and I don't remember much about that aspect, I was more geeking about lotr at that time than Tolkien's opinions.

Gollum is what really sells me on LotR being about marraige. He's a caricature of a woman hungry for commitment. I've seen the "gollum look" a few times in real life, and they captured it pretty damn accurately in the movies (more monstrous ofc)...

I'm not sure if you are trolling, but these comments are telling us far more about you than they are about LotR, Tolkien or women.
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