[To be updated ... humility to be added!] How secure is secure? The archive files produced
by Pryvit are next to useless to anyone in the
world except to someone who has all the files. But what if someone is really
determined to get at your data? It is standard practice in cryptographic
literature to assume that there is such a malevolent person; traditionally
he is given the name "Malcolm". Okay, assume there is a
"Malcolm". What does he need to reconstitute your vulnerable data files? Here is
the list:
incredible motivation;
buckets of money;
lots of computing power.
To get at your original data, Malcolm first must find a
way to identify the hidden reconstitution file and all the archive files.
(Chances are they are tucked away in totally hidden places, with
anonymous names.)
Then he has to get a copy of every last one of them...
no exceptions.
If some of the missing files are offline, he must locate
them and steal copies.
Malcolm needs superb reverse engineering
skills to break through the standard 40 bit GOST encryption, a layer of
defense applied to reconstitution files whether they are transmitted or
kept for local retrieval.
Next, Malcolm must reverse engineer and circumvent
the computer identifier requirements.
Alternatively, he must steal
the computer authorized to extract the files.
So far, so good. (Maybe after all this work, Malcolm
deserves to have your data.) BUT... at this point, he finds out for
the first time whether high security cascading fragmentation was
used. Sorry, Malcolm, but if the reconstitution file for the next stage is
missing, your hard work and computing power are all in vain. It takes the
absence of only one reconstitution file to ensure total privacy.
Is Pryvit breakable? For someone as serious as Malcolm, who
fulfills all (repeat, ALL) of the conditions above... maybe. That's a pretty
tenuous "maybe", in the order of a one billionth of one percent
chance "maybe". If your data is worth the vast sums required to
intercept and steal it, then you have a simple fix. Encrypt your files
first, then use Pryvit as an encryption enhancer -- all the benefits of
privacy and Pryvit distribution combined.
You can be generous to Malcolm. Wish him long life and lots
of luck. To get at your data, he will need it!
