Sim Zacks wrote: > The problem is having the data encrypted as it is stored. Paul Stevens > said in one of his posts that this is a *bad* idea. Is this because of > the amount of time it would take, or is there another problem here? What > I was thinking is that if I had the encryption library on the server > then on the insert code for the messageblks table (only for non header > parts, obviously) I could call the encrypt function using the public key > of the user it is being inserted into. Then when he opens the email on > his client, his private key would open it automatically.
It is a bad idea imo because: - it is bad design - it is bad security It is bad design because the only way to do it without breaking IMAP or even POP3 access is by using the same key to encrypt every message part. Mail is not stored per user. Even in 2.2 messages are accessible to other users through the namespaces/acl feature. And in 2.3+ mimeparts are stored without any knowledge of the messages they are part of. There is *no* way to determine which user's key to use for a certain mime part. It is bad security because it is bad design. No kidding. Even if you store every message part encrypted using a serverkey, all a evil sysadmin needs to do to grant himself access to his CEO's mailbox is by inserting a few lines in dbmail_acl to grant himself read-access on the mailboxes of interest. And no, I don't think peeking in user mailboxes out of curiosity is normal or acceptable behaviour for sysadmins. It's probably a fellony in most countries. > Then the only thing I would have to worry about is sniffers and people > accessing the computer to read email, which I am really not worried about. > > Is there a reason this wouldn't work? > > Sim > > > If I have the PGP library on the server and I call the Encrypt function > using a > >> Again, gnuPG or PGP should be all you need. The content will be stored >> encrypted, where only the receiver is able to decrypt. >> >> And provides the same security as your password encrypted documents. >> They can be cracked if one logs onto the CEO computer. >> >> >> Marc > > _______________________________________________ > DBmail mailing list > [email protected] > https://mailman.fastxs.nl/mailman/listinfo/dbmail > -- ________________________________________________________________ Paul Stevens paul at nfg.nl NET FACILITIES GROUP GPG/PGP: 1024D/11F8CD31 The Netherlands________________________________http://www.nfg.nl _______________________________________________ DBmail mailing list [email protected] https://mailman.fastxs.nl/mailman/listinfo/dbmail
