On Tue, Aug 7, 2012 at 4:21 AM, Moxie Marlinspike <moxie@thoughtcrime.org> wrote:
However, my position is that Google Chat is currently more secure than CryptoCat. To be more specific, if I were recommending a chat tool for activists to use, *particularly* outside of the United States, I would absolutely recommend that they use Google Chat instead of CryptoCat. Just as I would recommend that they use GMail instead HushMail.
The security of CryptoCat v1 is reducible to the security of SSL, as well as to the security of the server infrastructure serving the page. Any attacker who can intercept SSL traffic can intercept a CryptoCat chat session, just as any attacker who can compromise the server (or the server operator themselves) can intercept a CryptoCat chat session.
Are you equating passive attacks with active attacks? If I understand how CryptoCat works correctly, it is resistant against passive interception attacks, whereas Google Chat stores cleartext on Google servers, which are easily accessible to law enforcement. Active attacks against SSL can be mitigated by pinning CryptoCat certificates, so you are left with what, compromise of server infrastructure? That requires LE jurisdiction where the servers are located, domain expertise, and dealing with the risk that the compromise is detected. All that vs. Google servers, which, if I remember right, provide a friendly interface to user accounts once served with a simple wiretapping order (and as has been already mentioned, Google is a multinational corporation, subject to a multitude of jurisdictions, and is known to bend over for whoever is in charge). -- Maxim Kammerer Liberti Linux: http://dee.su/liberte _______________________________________________ liberationtech mailing list liberationtech@lists.stanford.edu Should you need to change your subscription options, please go to: https://mailman.stanford.edu/mailman/listinfo/liberationtech If you would like to receive a daily digest, click "yes" (once you click above) next to "would you like to receive list mail batched in a daily digest?" You will need the user name and password you receive from the list moderator in monthly reminders. You may ask for a reminder here: https://mailman.stanford.edu/mailman/listinfo/liberationtech Should you need immediate assistance, please contact the list moderator. Please don't forget to follow us on http://twitter.com/#!/Liberationtech ----- End forwarded message ----- -- Eugen* Leitl <a href="http://leitl.org">leitl</a> http://leitl.org ______________________________________________________________ ICBM: 48.07100, 11.36820 http://www.ativel.com http://postbiota.org 8B29F6BE: 099D 78BA 2FD3 B014 B08A 7779 75B0 2443 8B29 F6BE