From: abostick@netcom.com (Alan Bostick)
Date: Fri, 20 Jan 95 22:29:05 PST
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: Re: Key backup
In-Reply-To: <199501182358.SAA29305@bb.hks.net>
Message-ID: <2778lyczB0I7075yn@netcom.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


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In article <199501182358.SAA29305@bb.hks.net>, you wrote:

> Variations on this theme (there are many) are encouraged. Have a friend
> check out a library book and let you stamp your key somewhere inside. It's
> the number of possible variations that make this seemingly impossible to
> attack. Apologies if this "secret ink" stuff is way off base  ;-) .
> 
> Most people (myself included) would opt for the "split and
> disguise" or "hidden/buried" key schemes where secret ink wouldn't add
> much security.

> 'Adam Shostack' was reported to have written:

> > If you want to hide bits, they
> > should be stripped of low entropy parts and hidden with a stego
> > program.
> 
> The idea was to use something other than magnetic media. A new and
> different optical encoding method could be devised to hide a key in a 
> halftone, but the barcode example was offered as one possibility using
> an existing standard. The basis for this thread was the perceived need
> for a relatively simple key backup system that didn't require the active
> participation of a whole hoard of people.

Pat Cadigan, in her novel SYNNERS, had the off-beat idea of having
crucial data encoded into graphical images and tattooed onto the skins
of beach bums.  

I've heard of worse ideas. . . .

                          | PROOF-READER, n: A malefactor who atones for
   Alan Bostick           | making your writing nonsense by permitting
   abostick@netcom.com    | the compositor to make it unintelligible.
finger for PGP public key |      Ambrose Bierce, THE DEVIL'S DICTIONARY
Key fingerprint:          | 
50 22 FB 46 41 A3 17 9D F7 33 FF E1 4E 1C 89 79  +legal_kludge=off

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