At 03:33 PM 1/3/98 -0600, you wrote:
Mobile Account Manager v1.1 now encrypts the data to the PalmPilot database. For more information, check out our site at http://www.mobilegeneration.com or you can download the trial version at http://www.mobilegeneration.com/downloads/acctmgr.zip. Let me know if there is anything else we can do!
Cassidy Lackey Mobile Generation Software www.mobilegeneration.com
Dan Ritter wrote:
What sort of encryption is used to protect private information in Mobile Account Manager?
After reviewing the costs and benefits associated with each of the published encryption algorithms (DES, RC4, RC5, IDEA, etc...) we have decided to utilize a proprietary Mobile Generation Software data encryption algorithm. Most
This does not answer my original question, which is: what encryption method are you using? All it says is which encryption methods you are *not* using.
importantly, data encryption must ensure that no
user can view the data in the
PalmPilot MAM database or the backup MAM database on
the PC. We feel that it
is highly unlikely that anyone will attempt to
break the encryption and therefore the If I felt that it was highly unlikely, I'd hardly be asking, would I? Poor cryptography is worse than none - it encourages people to believe their data is safe when it is not. Good cryptography can stand up to having its algorithms made public. Can yours?
costs incurred by utilizing the published encryption
algorithms would outweigh the
benefits. Therefore, we are confident that the MAM
encryption algorithm provides
sufficient data security for the Mobile Account
Manager database. Without providing more information, customers can not make that decision for themselves.
Below are the costs associated with utilizing many
of the published algorithms for
MAM:
U.S. Laws governing encryption software may not
allow for exportation of
MAM outside of the U.S.
Then you should be active in political groups advocating change of those laws. In fact, if you really believe in encryption, you might want to offer this as a test case - even a reporter can see how silly it is not to be able to protect your ATM PIN.
Copyrights and royalties associated with many
of the encryption algorithms
may increase the cost of MAM.
Many strong encryption algorithms are free.
Complex encryption algorithms drastically
increase the size of the application
and slow the response time of MAM.
Many algorithms can be tuned for different levels of complexity.
If you feel uncomfortable placing your sensitive
data in the PalmPilot, please let us
know and we will give you some other ideas to ensure
that your data is secure. I am doing so. I am also copying this to the cypherpunks mailing list, as other people ought to be made aware of this issue. Nothing I have quoted seems to be nonpublic information. -dsr-