My previous comment about SSH was a bit inaccurate.

- SSH
  - ask-on-first-use, "allow" implies "key was verified" (1)
  - warn if the key later changes
  - because of assumption (1), no way to allow-and-verify-later (but in 
practise, I guess other people do this)
- TextSecure
  - auto-allow-on-first-use
  - warn if the key later changes
  - can verify-later, but this is not stored, so (unless you have a good 
memory) you don't know which keys were already verified
  - no concept or UI indication, on which keys were verified
- ChatSecure
  - auto-allow-on-first-use
  - warn if the key later changes (I've never actually seen this, but I assume 
it does that)
  - for unverified keys, it shows the convo as orange
  - can verify-later, then it turns the convo green and remembers this state

I prefer the ChatSecure model, but the reason why TextSecure doesn't do it is 
because (they argue) the orange/green distinction is confusing. But then, 
perhaps we can have a different "advanced" screen where this distinction is 
made?

X

On 06/03/14 17:18, Ximin Luo wrote:
> (Recent versions of) TextSecure differ from many other products, in that 
> there is no way to *remember* which contacts you have verified. Moxie thinks 
> this is a usability improvement, but I think it's a security hole.
> 
> I don't know of any product that does this. Even SSH remembers which 
> non-verified keys you have implicitly allowed.
> 
> I'm not saying it will completely invalidate a study, but it will definitely 
> affect things from a user's POV. So, keep it in mind when doing a usability 
> study using TextSecure.
> 
> X
> 
> On 06/03/14 16:27, Christine Corbett Moran wrote:
>> The good news is that you don't need a partnership with an academic versed 
>> in experiment and data analysis to run one of these.
>>
>> The bad news is that it may not generalize between clients.
>>
>> But if anyone wants a candidate client to do a sort of study like that I 
>> suggest TextSecure =)
>>
>> C
>>
>>
>> On Thu, Mar 6, 2014 at 5:13 PM, Tony Arcieri <[email protected] 
>> <mailto:[email protected]>> wrote:
>>
>>     On Thu, Mar 6, 2014 at 4:49 AM, Christine Corbett Moran 
>> <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>> wrote:
>>
>>         What we'd need to get started is a list of methods we'd want to 
>> test, and some comparisons based on those methods to incorporate in the 
>> experiment.
>>
>>
>>     I'd like to see more studies like the Cryptocat one:
>>
>>     https://blog.crypto.cat/2014/01/cryptocat-at-the-openitp-dc-hackathon/
>>
>>     The area of the most confusion — to the point where it made the users 
>> feel threatened or panicked — was the user information screens (either for a 
>> specific buddy or the user themselves). *Though “fingerprint” is widely 
>> known by cryptography and security experts, it is, at the end of the day, 
>> jargon*. There were several participants who immediately associated 
>> “fingerprint” with a negative connotation (i.e., leaving a fingerprint at a 
>> crime scene). Their tone was panicked in asking their questions on this 
>> issue, and were unsure of why that information needed to be displayed, and 
>> if it was even safe to display. There were a handful of users who understood 
>> encryption technology at a very basic level who were not confused by the 
>> terminology on this page, but were unsure of what to do with this 
>> information. 
>>
>>     -- 
>>     Tony Arcieri
>>
>>
> 
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Messaging mailing list
> [email protected]
> https://moderncrypto.org/mailman/listinfo/messaging
> 


-- 
GPG: 4096R/1318EFAC5FBBDBCE
git://github.com/infinity0/pubkeys.git

Attachment: signature.asc
Description: OpenPGP digital signature

_______________________________________________
Messaging mailing list
[email protected]
https://moderncrypto.org/mailman/listinfo/messaging

Reply via email to