Re: Hack PGP

From: Daniel Persson (mailto.woden_at_gmail.com)
Date: 01/17/05

  • Next message: Tom Stracener: "Re: Web Application Scanners" 
    Date: Mon, 17 Jan 2005 22:30:17 +0100
To: security-basics@securityfocus.com

    Well I pretty much knew it was impossible but I had to ask. Well my
    key lenght was 4196 bits so it's quite strong and well when I say wipe
    I mean using a tool that writes zeroes and random data over the disk
    atleast 3-4 passes. So the key and all chanses of opening the files
    are pretty much history. I was just curious if there was anyone that
    had made a try to break it and how far they had come.

    Thanks alot for the discussion.

    On Mon, 17 Jan 2005 20:33:57 +0100, Andreas Putzo
    <andreas@inferno.nadir.org> wrote:
    > Hello,
    >
    > On Saturday 15 January 2005 07:06, Daniel Persson wrote:
    > > I have a delema that is quite strange but then again feasable. I did a
    > > backup on my system and wiped my harddrive and then installed
    > > everything from scratch.
    > > My problem was that the PGP keys where locked down on my harddrive and
    > > couldn't be copied by the backup system.
    >
    > Bad. Very bad. Keep at least one copy of your secret key on a save medium,
    > eg. an usb-stick or a disk in your bank deposit box.
    > Facing your problem, i would 1st try, to recover the key from your
    > harddisk. By 'wipe' you mean a simple delete? If so, you _may have a
    > change without paying a lot of money for a forensic professional.
    > You may take a look at sleuthkit[1] or 'The Coroners Toolkit' to look at
    > your HD for deleted files.
    > If the name information for your secret_key is gone, you can possibly
    > identify it on its size.
    > Of course, you have to stop writing to this harddisk immediately! Take an
    > image with 'dd' to another harddisk and work with this image further on.
    >
    > Good luck!
    >
    > Andreas
    >
    > [1] http://www.sleuthkit.org
    >
    > 

    -- 
Daniel Persson
mailto.woden@gmail.com
  • Next message: Tom Stracener: "Re: Web Application Scanners"

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