Portable PGP?

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webfork
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Re: Portable PGP?

#16 Post by webfork »

> InstantCrypt has many features PortablePGP does not have

The PGP/MIME, email/webmail, help files, and the rest are pretty cool. I should have looked closer at the software and seeing that before I replied.


>> Freeware license may disappear at any time

> True. But then you can always switch to Portable PGP without loss of keys or files.

Kind of the point of this is to try and insert simplicity and ease of use, not have them switch to another program in the middle. Its not a problem until I try to sell this to a business environment where they don't want to have to switch horses mid-stream.

Additionally, open software has a strange and cool tendency not to disappear. Once its out there, it seems to stick around. Even if its no longer maintained, its always available. I noticed this when I recently bought a used Palm device: all the GPL'd software out there was still available and most of the companies that did shareware had gone out of business and their software had gone who knows where.


> Of course, InstantCrypt could double as a Trojan somehow or secretly do other horrible things (and so could any other proprietary software that you download onto your computer) -- but it does not.

I don't know how to respond to this without sounding like I'm accusing you of something so I'll quote Bruce Schneier here:

"As a cryptography and computer security expert, I have never understood the current fuss about the open source software movement. In the cryptography world, we consider open source necessary for good security; we have for decades."

http://www.schneier.com/crypto-gram-9909.html

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Re: Portable PGP?

#17 Post by webfork »

Spent some time working with Sylpheed http://www.portablefreeware.com/?id=1112 today trying to get it to work with either GPG or PGP (references to both are present in software) without success.

The best information I found was here:
Sylpheed can encrypt and sign your messages (also decrypt and verify the signatures of the incoming messages) using GnuPG. GnuPG follows the OpenPGP standard and is compatible with PGP. To enable this feature, you need to install GnuPG and GPGME (interface library to GnuPG). Enable this option with the --enable-gpgme configure switch. (source: http://sylpheeddoc.sourceforge.net/en/m ... ual-4.html)
Although its probably functional, it seems unlikely to be portable so I think I'll keep looking and edit out the GPG mention in the entry.

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Re: Portable PGP with bundled JRE

#18 Post by webfork »

is now fully in terms of no longer needing Java installed. Great news. As a result however, the download is quite large: 50 megs. EDIT: This project appears to be discontinued.

The main advantage of over the excellent GPG4USB is its capability to "sign" messages like I signed this one (small text at top and bottom of msg). This allows users to verify the sender.

Whether its or stealth I have not tested.

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Re: Portable PGP?

#19 Post by webfork »

webfork wrote:Portable PGP is now fully portable in terms of no longer needing Java installed.
Update on this: I didn't notice before but the program writes quite a few settings to \User\AppData. I suspect its reasonably portable but its far from stealth.

Detailed update

Registry changes:
  • HKCU\Software\JavaSoft\Java2D\1.6.0_06
    HKCU\Software\JavaSoft\Java2D\1.6.0_06\Drivers\.DISPLAY1 VMware SVGA II\32\ddCreation
    HKCU\Software\JavaSoft\Java2D\1.6.0_06\Drivers\.DISPLAY1 VMware SVGA II\32\ddSurfaceCreation
(Not sure if those last two are strictly because I'm running VMware.)

Created very basic settings file:
  • C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\Application Data\PPGP\PortablePGP\mainFrame.session.xml
Edit:I tested this program to see if the JRE from PortableApps Portable Java would do the trick. Could save some serious disk space. Unfortunately, the included JRE for Portable PGP has radically different contents and, although the program would run, it could not generate encryption keys.

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Re: Portable PGP?

#20 Post by webfork »

(I realize I'm really the only one that posts to this thread, but I've been finding some great uses for GPG text encryption lately.)

Found another GPG tool: an open, portable version of the old WinPT program called GnuPT - Portable Edition. Its discussed a bit over at portableapps. A test for portability will likely happen in the next week or so.

There page is in German, but the program is in English. I've had some trouble with the hot key controls. Essentially, I'm seeking to press a key combination and have whatever I'm writing be encrypted/signed, making it application-agnostic.

Edit: Portable PGP authors have been emailed with a hotkey feature request.

Edit2: GnuPT Portable test: Portable.
  • Included in the download is a Portable GPGrelay tool that allows the sending of secure email from any email client, but I don't really have a use for that and didn't test it.

    Stealth: Mostly. It writes a lot of settings to the host computer but the launcher program deletes them once its closed. If the program is shut down improperly (there's a warning when the program starts), it might leave those settings behind and would not be stealth.
Edit3: GnuPT Portable has been added. (Do not vote for this, see Edit4 below.)

Edit4: Very frustrating results with continued testing of GnuPT. I neglected to test path portability. Even moving it one directory seems to screw up the program. Bleh.

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Re: Portable PGP?

#21 Post by webfork »

Old thread update: InstantCrypt (mentioned earlier in this thread) hasn't been updated in over 2 years and uses an outdated version of GPG.EXE (1.4.14). http://www.softpedia.com/progChangelog/ ... 64570.html

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