This feature really makes little sense. The correct way to do this is  
server-side authorization controls. SSL provides transport security  
already. The "once the users password is cracked" issue is  
orthogonal, and means you need a better authentication system than  
simple passwords. I would recommend a two-factor system, and I know  
RSA's SecurID can be integrated with Apache.

--Noah

On Jul 31, 2007, at 6:40 PM, Vincent wrote:

>
> I would tend to agree with you.  In fact I completely agreed with you
> until I looked into this a bit.  And yes, ultimately, you're kind of
> right - end-to-end security and HTML isn't quite consistent.  But in
> the event of hey I want to post a message and provide an easy way to
> encrypt/decrypt it if I have the key actually seems reasonable to me.
> It prevents data from being stored in the clear in the wiki or in a
> file.  In fact, it's out in the open - it's the encryption key that
> has the be known.
>
> In this case, the context-dependent permissions system isn't what is
> desired.  The client doesn't want the permission to be user-specific
> as once the user password is cracked, then it's all over.  It's a 2nd
> level of security that can be applied to a given wiki page.  At first
> I thought .htaccess or something like that would be enough, but he
> emphasized that he didn't want the data to be stored unencrypted
> either, hence the reference to the Rails app below/above.
>
> Make sense?  Still haven't checked into PGP meets Javascript, but it
> seems like it would be trivial to do a:
>
> text=dom.text
> cryptkey = dom.cryptkey
> newtext = togglecrypt(text, cryptkey);
>
> So... while I was typing I did a bit of research and found the
> following page:
>
> http://www.fourmilab.ch/javascrypt/jscrypt.html
>
> This pretty much does what is needed, so I guess the next step would
> be to see what it would take to modify the Wiki edit form to include
> an encrypt using this key button.  And the Wiki view page to include
> an decrypt using this key button (form) that called these functions,
> possibly adding some settings in trac.ini so that you could control
> which kind of encryption/decryption cipher you would be using (i.e.
> base64, hex, blah)
>
> Make sense?  Is this something I should submit as a plugin or try to
> work it out as a feature that can be enabled/disabled in trunk?  Would
> be curious if anyone else on the mailing list would find this useful,
> with the idea that you can now store your passwords on your wiki,
> presuming that your encryption key is secure w/o worrying about even
> those pesky boys who manage to get root access to your wiki and
> database... they still can't read the text without the key.
>
> Vincent
>
>
>
> On Jul 31, 3:01 pm, Noah Kantrowitz <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>> You should use the new context-dependent permissions system. Look at
>> the authz-policy sample plugin. If you want end-to-end security,
>> don't use HTML.
>>
>> --Noah
>>
>> On Jul 31, 2007, at 5:47 PM, Vincent wrote:
>>
>>
>>
>>> As an addendum, the client who requested this feature found this  
>>> link
>>> to an equivalent feature written in Ruby.  Seems to me this could be
>>> done client side (presuming there is some sort of cryptology library
>>> available for javascript) but it could also be done as a python
>>> process.  Will do more research and get back to the group.
>>
>>> Vincent
>>
>>> On Jul 31, 2:01 pm, cobwebsmasher <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>>>> This is something I hadn't thought would be useful, as I think
>>>> there are plenty of workarounds to get a similar effect, but I
>>>> wanted to know what the group thought of this idea:
>>
>>>> Encryptable Wiki pages that can only be unlocked by either a
>>>> specific password and/or a specific username/password combination.
>>
>>>> Client wants a place to store usernames/passwords, but doesn't
>>>> want to store it on a wiki as you could work around the wiki to
>>>> get the information.  I've suggested just placing a zip file with
>>>> a password as an attachment on the wiki, but he really wants this
>>>> notion of an encryptable wiki --- it's stored in the database
>>>> encrypted so that only users with a specific password can read
>>>> what it's saying.
>>
>>>> I guess you could rig up an AJAX DOM sweep that took a given
>>>> document through some form of reversible encryption, but I have no
>>>> idea how secure one can make any reversible encryption scheme if,
>>>> at the end of the day, a password is involved.
>>
>>>> Thoughts on the idea and possible implementation?
>>
>>>> Thanks,
>>
>>>> Vincent
>>
>>>> ---------------------------------
>>>> Got a little couch potato?
>>>> Check out fun summer activities for kids.
>
>
> >
>


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