marwood@ncs.dnd.ca (Gordon Marwood) (09/14/89)
Does anyone know whether there is a version of mail which does automatic encryption/decryption. I have seen reference to this, but cannot seem to get any detailed information. I am aware that one can encrypt files and send them, but I am looking for something a bit more automatic than that. Gordon Marwood marwood@ncs.dnd.ca
khera@juliet.cs.duke.edu (Vick Khera) (09/14/89)
In article <20858@adm.BRL.MIL> marwood@ncs.dnd.ca (Gordon Marwood) writes: >Does anyone know whether there is a version of mail which does automatic >encryption/decryption. I have seen reference to this, but cannot seem to get >any detailed information. I am aware that one can encrypt files and send them, >but I am looking for something a bit more automatic than that. > >Gordon Marwood At least on Sun systems we have here, there is a facility to do this. I believe this only works on local mail. here is most of the man page. v. NAME xsend, xget, enroll - send or receive secret mail DESCRIPTION These commands implement a secure communication channel, which is like mail(1), but no one can read the messages except the intended recipient. The method embodies a public-key cryptosystem using knapsacks. To receive messages, use enroll; it asks you for a password that you must subsequently quote in order to receive secret mail. To receive secret mail, use xget. It asks for your pass- word, then gives you the messages. To send secret mail, use xsend in the same manner as the ordinary mail command. Unlike mail, xsend accepts only one target. A message announcing the receipt of secret mail is also sent by ordinary mail. FILES /var/spool/secretmail/*.key keys /var/spool/secretmail/*.[0-9] messages BUGS The knapsack public-key cryptosystem is known to be break- able. Secret mail should be integrated with ordinary mail. The announcement of secret mail makes traffic analysis pos- sible. Sun Release 4.0 Last change: 9 September 1987 1 =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= ARPA: khera@cs.duke.edu Department of Computer Science CSNET: khera@duke Duke University UUCP: {mcnc,decvax}!duke!khera Durham, NC 27706
guy@auspex.auspex.com (Guy Harris) (09/16/89)
>At least on Sun systems we have here, there is a facility to do this. I >believe this only works on local mail. here is most of the man page. > >NAME > xsend, xget, enroll - send or receive secret mail This dates back to V7, although it wasn't picked up by the S3/S5 side of the house. Since it was in V7, it's in 4.xBSD; it may also be in commercial systems other than Suns.... It does, in fact, work only on local mail, since it delivers mail by writing to a file, not by handing it to some program such as "sendmail" cognizant of SMTP or other network mail delivery protocols; you may be able to make it work over NFS or some other network file system, though, with a shared "/usr/spool/secretmail" directory (although since the notification is sent by ordinary mail, the recipient needs an account on the local machine anyway, or at least an alias to get the mail to them).
tanner@cdis-1.uucp (Dr. T. Andrews) (09/18/89)
) xsend, xget, enroll -- all from V7
Yup, lots of limitations there, including the fact that it works best
if the sender and receiver are on the same machine.
Suggest use of elm's encryption feature instead. Form a message
which includes lines [encode] and [clear] surrounding sensitive
portions. You get prompted for a password when sending the message,
and the receiver gets prompted for a password at time of reading.
--
...!bikini.cis.ufl.edu!ki4pv!cdis-1!tanner ...!bpa!cdin-1!cdis-1!tanner
or... {allegra attctc gatech!uflorida}!ki4pv!cdis-1!tannerguy@auspex.auspex.com (Guy Harris) (09/23/89)
>Suggest use of elm's encryption feature instead. Form a message >which includes lines [encode] and [clear] surrounding sensitive >portions. You get prompted for a password when sending the message, >and the receiver gets prompted for a password at time of reading. Assuming, of course, that both the sender and receiver are running "elm", or some mailer offering equivalent and compatible capabilities.... (Note: it is occasionally not possible to demand that the person to whom you're sending mail change their mail user agent.)
jpr@dasys1.UUCP (Jean-Pierre Radley) (09/23/89)
In article <20858@adm.BRL.MIL> marwood@ncs.dnd.ca (Gordon Marwood) writes: >Does anyone know whether there is a version of mail which does automatic >encryption/decryption. Why don't you get 'elm' source from the usenet archives? Among its thousand and one features is the ability to encrypt a message, or even just a part of a message. -- Jean-Pierre Radley jpr@jpradley.uucp New York, NY 72160.1341@compuserve.com