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Age is a simple, modern and secure file encryption tool, format, and Go library

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Re: Age is a simple, modern and secure file encryption tool, format, and Go library

#13
post #3

Age (and its rust implementation Rage) combined with agenix[0] and age.el[1] has made my self-hosted deployment and management so, so easy without compromising security. That, when combined with general NixOS conveniences is why I'm able to self-host at all. If not for these, just the anxiety of having to setup new server in case of whatever loss and the associated time/opportunity loss kept me from dong the same for…

Server deployment/management tools like Ansible have their own file encryption and string encryption tools builtin.

Re: Age is a simple, modern and secure file encryption tool, format, and Go library

#14
For someone that never ever needs signing or authentication, including for ones own backups, who never has malware in their threat model, and trusts this specless tool will be maintained forever, maybe this makes sense?

Even then openssl or sq can solve the problem in the same number of commands but with sntabdards.

Most people are best off going with a modern implementation of the PGP standard, ideally via a smart card to protect you from key exfil via malware.

Tools like Keyfork, Sequoia, and/or openpgp-card-tool are almost certainly what you want for most personal signing, encryption, and authentication use cases.

You get broad compatibility with many many different tools.

Re: Age is a simple, modern and secure file encryption tool, format, and Go library

#15
_o/ hi all, age author here! age is the one of my projects that grew most organically into an ecosystem. It's always great to see what people build with it. Happy to answer any questions.

Here are some previous discussions

132 points on Feb 26, 2023 | 77 comments | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34936504

126 points on Sept 26, 2022 | 54 comments | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32980141

113 points on June 11, 2022 | 33 comments | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31705670

494 points on Sept 6, 2021 | 88 comments | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28435613

466 points on Dec 27, 2019 | 199 comments | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21895671

and here some related resources

- a list of age ecosystem projects https://github.com/FiloSottile/awesome-age

- the format specification https://c2sp.org/age

- the Go library docs https://pkg.go.dev/filippo.io/age

- the CLI man page https://filippo.io/age/age.1

- the large reusable test suite (which I should write about!) https://c2sp.org/CCTV/age

- an interoperable Rust implementation by @str4d https://github.com/str4d/rage

- an official TypeScript implementation https://github.com/FiloSottile/typage (based on libsodium.js in the latest version, and on pure-js Noble libraries on main)

- a YubiKey plugin by @str4d https://github.com/str4d/age-plugin-yubikey

- the plugin protocol specification https://c2sp.org/age-plugin

- a Windows GUI by @spieglt https://github.com/spieglt/winage

- a discussion of the authentication properties of age https://words.filippo.io/dispatches/age-authentication/

- a discussion of the plugin architecture https://words.filippo.io/dispatches/age-plugins/

- a discussion of a potential post-quantum plugin https://words.filippo.io/dispatches/post-quantum-age/

- a password-store fork that uses age instead of gpg https://github.com/FiloSottile/passage (see also: how I use it with a YubiKey https://words.filippo.io/dispatches/passage/)

Re: Age is a simple, modern and secure file encryption tool, format, and Go library

#16
Age is a much better experience than PGP/GPG, even though it only has a subset of GPG's features.

The option and argument handling is intuitive; it makes sense instantly. It gives a more grounded understanding of what's happening with the encryption process, especially because of the short-form recipient format.

Also, setting it up with a Yubikey and Passage (a GNU pass alternative for Age) was a breeze.

Re: Age is a simple, modern and secure file encryption tool, format, and Go library

#17
https://www.kryptor.co.uk/ is much more secure than age.

From their FAQ [0]:

>Kryptor uses strong, fast, and modern cryptographic algorithms, offering post-quantum security. It also addresses security limitations of tools like age and Minisign.

>Unlike most tools, Kryptor limits metadata by using an indistinguishable from random encrypted file format. Encrypted files have no identifiable headers and are randomly padded. File names can also be encrypted.

And from their Secure section [1]:

>Private key encryption for protection at rest, unlike age.

[0]: https://www.kryptor.co.uk/faq#why-should-i-use-kryptor-over-...

[1]: https://www.kryptor.co.uk/#secure

Re: Age is a simple, modern and secure file encryption tool, format, and Go library

#18

https://www.kryptor.co.uk/ is much more secure than age. From their FAQ [0]: >Kryptor uses strong, fast, and modern cryptographic algorithms, offering post-quantum security. It also addresses security limitations of tools like age and Minisign. >Unlike most tools, Kryptor limits metadata by using an indistinguishable from random encrypted file format. Encrypted files have no identifiable headers and are randomly padd…

I'd never heard of this. Looks very very interesting!

I'd be keen to know Filippo's (age creator) opinion on this, if he has any.

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