1Password 4.2 for iOS has been released with a really nifty sharing feature. This allows you to conveniently share items with other people and keep them updated. Before getting into the details, it is important to know that the data is well encrypted within 1Password, but it is not encrypted when it is not in [...]
You may have heard some news going around about hashcat, a password cracking tool, that recently increased its ability to guess Master Passwords for 1Password data files. It’s an impressive achievement for hashcat, and it is important to understand what this does and doesn’t mean for 1Password. What you need to know 1Password has not [...]
1Password is moving to using 256-bit AES keys instead of 128-bit keys. We already started this within the browser extensions in the summer of 2011, and the new Cloud Keychain Format also uses 256-bit keys. Why do you think we are making this move? If your answer is because AES 256 is stronger than AES [...]
The security of your 1Password data depends on only one secret—your Master Password. It also depends on plenty of things that aren’t secret. For example, 1Password uses the AES encryption algorithm, every detail of which is defined by public standards; your security depends on the security of AES, but there is nothing secret about it. [...]
I introduced HMAC (Hash-based Message Authentication Code) through the back door when talking about the Time-based One Time Password (TOTP) of Dropbox’s two-step verification. But TOTP is actually a peculiar way to use HMAC. Let’s explore what what Message Authentication Codes (MACs) are normally used for and why they play such an important role in [...]
In my discussion of Dropbox’s new two-step authentication, I skimped on the cryptography. Because we had to move quickly, I wanted to focus at the time just on our recommendations, so I told a few fibs about how the way the six digit codes “get” to your phone. Now I want to explain how it [...]
Alan Turing was born a hundred years ago this year and his most important paper was published seventy-six years ago (November 1936). It is close to impossible to overstate the influence that Turing has had on the modern world. It is something well worth celebrating his life throughout this centennial year. Although any celebration must [...]
The net is atwitter with discussion of Jeremi Gosney’s specially crafted machine with 25 GPUs that can test hundreds of billions of passwords per second using hashcat, a password cracking system. Password crackers, like hashcat, look at the cryptographic hashes of user passwords and repeatedly make guesses to try to find a password that works. [...]
Nicole Perlroth of The New York Times penned an article on “How to Devise Passwords That Drive Hackers Away“. The article has a typical mixture of good advice that could often be better, along with some implied advice that I actually consider very poor. The two security experts that Perlroth cites – Jeremiah Grossman, an expert on [...]
As Lívia and I were out walking Molly and Patty on Monday evening, I received a telephone call from an unknown number. I decided to answer the phone anyway, and I was greeted by a recorded voice telling me that my Bank of America debit card beginning with 4217 has been limited and whether I [...]