Signal under fire for storing encryption keys in plaintext(stackdiary.com)

posted 4 months ago

Recant@beehaw.org

foss@beehaw.org

46 commentshide report

As mentioned in the comments, plain text keys aren’t bad because they are necessary. You have to have at least one plain text key in order to be able to use encryption

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limitedduck@awful.systems

45 points

4 months ago

I kind of agree that this may be a little overblown. Exploiting this requires device and filesystem access so if you can get the keys you can already get a lot more stuff.

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ericjmorey@programming.dev

11 points

4 months ago

A secure enclave can already be accessed by the time someone can access the Signal encryption keys , so there’s no extra security in putting the encryption keys in the secure enclave.

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thingsiplay@beehaw.org

2 points

4 months ago

Deleted by creator

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TimeSquirrel@kbin.melroy.org

8 points

4 months ago

It’s eventually going to have to be stored in plaintext somewhere. Where are you then putting the encryption key for the encryption keys and how do you start the chain of decryption without the first key?

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limitedduck@awful.systems

2 points

4 months ago

Sorry, I don’t think I understand what you’re suggesting. Are you saying encryption keys should themselves be encrypted?

FYI this story isn’t about plaintext passwords, it’s about plaintext encryption keys to chat history.

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