Forwarded From: Keith Dawson <dawsonat_private> 1999-05-19: ..HushMail: free Web-based email with bulletproof encryption Hush Communications has quietly begun beta testing a significant development in email privacy. HushMail [1] works like Hotmail or Rocketmail -- you can set up multiple free accounts and access them from any Web browser anywhere -- but when you email another HushMail user your communication is protected by unbreakable encryption. The crypto, implemented in a downloadable Java applet, was developed outside of US borders and so has no export limitations. Here are the FAQ [2] and a more technical overview [3] of the Hush- Mail system. HushMail public and private keys are 1024 bits long, and are stored on a server located in Canada. All information sent between the HushApplet and the HushMail server is encrypted via the Blowfish symmetric 128-bit algorithm. The key to this symmetric pipe is randomly generated each session by the server and is transferred to the client machine over a secure SSL connection. When you sign on as a new user you can choose an anonymous account or an identifiable one. For the latter you have to fill out a demographic profile, to make you more attractive (in the aggregate) to HushMail's advertisers. The HushApplet walks you through generating a public-private key-pair. The process is fun and slick as a smelt. You need to come up with a secure pass-phrase, and in this process HushMail gives only minimal guidance. You might want to visit Arnold Reinhold's Diceware page [4], where he lays out a foolproof pass- phrase protocol utilizing a pair of dice. HushMail relies heavily on Java (JVM 1.1.5 or higher), so it can only be used with the latest browsers. The earliest workable version of Netscape's browser is 4.04, but some features don't work in versions before 4.07; the latest version, 4.5, is best. For Internet Explorer users, 4.5 is recommended, but the latest Windows release of IE 4.0 (subversion 4.72.3110) works as well. Red Hat Linux version 5.2 is also tested and supported. Unfortunately, HushMail does not work on Macintoshes, due to limitations in Apple's Java implementation. (Mac users can crawl HushMail under Connectix Virtual PC. Note that I don't say "run." I've tried this interpretation-under-emulation and do not recommend it.) The company is trying urgently to connect with the right people at Apple to get this situation remedied. One of the limitations of this early release of HushMail is that encryption can only be used to and from another HushMail account. It is not currently possible to export your public/private key-pair, to set up automatic forwarding of mail sent to a HushMail account, or to import non-Hush public keys. I spoke with Cliff Baltzley, Hush's CEO and chief technical wizard. He stresses that Hush's desire and intention is to move toward interoperability with other players in the crypto world, such as PGP and S/MIME. The obstacles to doing so are the constraints on technical resources (read: offshore crypto programmers) and legal questions of intellectual property. Baltzley believes that HushMail's positive impact on privacy worldwide will be enhanced by maximizing the product's openness. [1] https://www.hushmail.com/ [2] https://www.hushmail.com/faq.htm [3] https://www.hushmail.com/tech_description.htm [4] http://world.std.com/~reinhold/diceware.html -o- Subscribe: mail majordomoat_private with "subscribe isn". Today's ISN Sponsor: Hacker News Network [www.hackernews.com]
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