The Coder Who Encrypted Your Texts • Hacker News Board

Re: The Coder Who Encrypted Your Texts

#31

Post by muppetman » Fri, Jul 10, 2015, 2:35 AM UTC

iamthebest wrote: post #16

I tried installing TextSecure recently but it wouldn't work without the Google Play services. I hadn't herd of their new app Signal. Has anyone tried it? I'm really interested in hearing anyone's experience using it. BTW, I ended up installing Telegram ...and it may be mere co-incidence, but I started noticing some weird things happening that I've never seen before. I connect to the internet exclusively via tethering…

Telegram isn't secure. There's been no public audit of their "secure" code and most messages aren't even sent via the secure channel unless you expressly tell it to do so.

It has a pretty UI though, so most people seem to think it's great.

Re: The Coder Who Encrypted Your Texts

#32

Post by muppetman » Fri, Jul 10, 2015, 2:39 AM UTC

btczeus wrote: post #26

iamthebest wrote: post #16

I tried installing TextSecure recently but it wouldn't work without the Google Play services. I hadn't herd of their new app Signal. Has anyone tried it? I'm really interested in hearing anyone's experience using it. BTW, I ended up installing Telegram ...and it may be mere co-incidence, but I started noticing some weird things happening that I've never seen before. I connect to the internet exclusively via tethering…

This. Why do you require Google Play services? Why do you spy on contacts?

It's explained here: http://support.whispersystems.org/customer/portal/articles/1...

Re: The Coder Who Encrypted Your Texts

#33

Post by muppetman » Fri, Jul 10, 2015, 2:39 AM UTC

btczeus wrote: post #22

This guy is not part of the solution. He is part of the problem. https://f-droid.org/posts/security-notice-textsecure/

No, the f-droid guy is the problem there. What a hysterical tanty he throws. It's embarrassing.

Re: The Coder Who Encrypted Your Texts

#34

Post by muppetman » Fri, Jul 10, 2015, 2:41 AM UTC

btczeus wrote: post #18

There is not any evidence of encryption on WhatsApp, source code is closed so you can never be safe.

People have sniffed the wire for the WhatApp client (on Android, towards another Android) and seen that it is encrypted.

But your point stands - there's no UI to indicate if it was secure or not and the code isn't open so you can't know for sure.

Re: The Coder Who Encrypted Your Texts

#35

Post by Permit » Fri, Jul 10, 2015, 2:42 AM UTC

tw04 wrote: post #20

moxie wrote: post #5

I get a lot of credit for the stuff that Open Whisper Systems does, but it's not all me by a long shot. Trevor Perrin, Frederic Jacobs, Christine Corbett, Tyler Reinhard, Lilia Kai, Jake McGinty, and Rhodey Orbits are the crew that really made all this work happen.

Given that we have the man himself onboard - can I urge you to ask the WSJ to remove the comment at the start of the article about WhatsApp implementing your encryption schema? Unless I've missed something, there's absolutely no way for an end-user to determine if their messages are being encrypted (with whatsapp). Or how they're being encrypted for that matter. I feel like WhatsApp latched onto your groundwork (pote…

Part way through the article they say:

>Last fall, WhatsApp added Mr. Marlinspike’s encryption scheme to text messages between users with Android smartphones, but there is no easy way to verify that the encryption software is actually turned on.

So they're being pretty open about the fact users can't determine if their messages are truly encrypted.

Re: The Coder Who Encrypted Your Texts

#36

Post by [deleted] » Fri, Jul 10, 2015, 2:44 AM UTC

moxie wrote: post #5

I get a lot of credit for the stuff that Open Whisper Systems does, but it's not all me by a long shot. Trevor Perrin, Frederic Jacobs, Christine Corbett, Tyler Reinhard, Lilia Kai, Jake McGinty, and Rhodey Orbits are the crew that really made all this work happen.

[deleted]

Re: The Coder Who Encrypted Your Texts

#37

Post by lugg » Fri, Jul 10, 2015, 2:56 AM UTC

lisper wrote: post #13

Not that I really want to steal any of Moxie's thunder, but if you're reading this comment thread you might also be interested in SC4: https://github.com/Spark-Innovations/SC4 Strong encryption that runs in a browser. Recently completed its first security audit.

I've been looking for something to replace PGP-JS for a while.

Cheers.

Re: The Coder Who Encrypted Your Texts

#38

Post by visualpipe » Fri, Jul 10, 2015, 2:58 AM UTC

btczeus wrote: post #18

There is not any evidence of encryption on WhatsApp, source code is closed so you can never be safe.

Even if it's open source, we should say that unless the binary can be reproduced exactly by end user, you can never trust what you are using is actually what you think it is.

Re: The Coder Who Encrypted Your Texts

#39

Post by sergiotapia » Fri, Jul 10, 2015, 2:59 AM UTC

>Unfortunately, if Mr. Marlinspike’s encryption scheme can be applied to imagery, then childporn collectors thank him too.

And there we go, highest voted comment on the article: a strawman about child pornography. Think of the keeeds

Re: The Coder Who Encrypted Your Texts

#40

Post by justcommenting » Fri, Jul 10, 2015, 3:04 AM UTC

Kudos to moxie and team for their work and their example of positively enabling others to speak freely, for inspiring others to build better alternatives, and for being the change they wish to see in the world.

Also wanted to share one of the most provocative moxie-isms I've heard in recent years from him, in reference to WL:

"What about the truth has helped you?"