[SvanteSpectator]

Thanks Warren,

GnuPG is all you say it is. While AxCrypt and PGP/GnuPG has many things in common, I can’t resist sharing two anecdotes that illustrate the vital difference in my mind.

– The history of AxCrypt actually started when I personally needed a solution to this problem. I found PGP (the original). I also tried to use it, and found “PGP for Dummies” – the documentation for simplified use. It was 20+ pages of tightly written word document. This was when I decided there has to be an easier way to package strong crypto…

– The way I heard the story of Snowden and GPG, is that the whole thing almost fell through because he pretty close to despaired when trying to get these journalists to understand how to use it… ;-) He apparently struggled for months. In the end I believe they used TrueCrypt to encrypt physical hard drives or USB drives with the data. An interesting read, that reflects this is https://theintercept.com/2014/10/28/smuggling-snowden-secrets/ . This quote illustrated my point “The frustrating and ironic thing about GPG is that even experts make mistakes with it. Even, as it turns out, Edward Snowden.”

Anyway, that’s the driving force behind AxCrypt. To make strong crypto packaged in a way that non-technical persons can use. That’s why we don’t ask users to chose algorithms etc, and try to keep options as well to an absolute minimum.

But, yes, GPG/PGP is indeed good stuff from a cryptographic point of view. I’ve also debated countless times whether to implement AxCrypt using GPG/PGP file formats – but here alas also I’ve backed out due to the complexity.

[SvanteSpectator]

Hi nobody,

Got it. We will in fact add options such as this relatively soon.

[SvanteSpectator]

Hi Fox,

Great it’s fixed. What caused it is a good question. I’ve not heard of anything similar.

Sorry about the captchas, but perhaps you don’t realize the amount of spam these forums would get otherwise…

[SvanteSpectator]

Hello Anonymous,

Thanks for the feedback, but if you could be more specific, it’ll help us improve!

[SvanteSpectator]

Hello Fox,

Thanks for your input! Yes, that’s the plan.

We’ll be adding such options, but they will be behind something like “You are about to change an option that may be dangerous. Please confirm by entering your password again.”.

[SvanteSpectator]

Hello Glazooh,

Are you using Microsoft Windows original Notepad, or some alternative?

With regular Notepad, AxCrypt should as you say detect that it was closed.

Other alternative text editors often have a multi document interface, and you can close the *document*, but the app itself remains open.

[SvanteSpectator]

Hello Lightwind,

We’re working on the Mac OS X project as we speak. We’re hoping to get something out in May / June timeframe.

[SvanteSpectator]

Hello Adam,

The problem here is that it’s a false sense of security!

Even in real life, it’s actually quite a stretch that someone would innocently sit down at someone elses’ computer and just happen to click and open a file. I can’t really imagine a workplace where this could happen. A work computer is something quite private. It’s like leafing through someones phone, checking their dating app or email. You just don’t innocently happen to do that.

So, if someone is actually interested enough to risk the conflict, and even getting fired, to snoop around in someone elses’ computer when the rightful owner is taking a break then leaving that computer unattended and logged in to Windows is a very bad idea and once done there’s no telling what may have been installed.

For such a snooper, it’s much smarter and safer to first find a suitable listening tool software, then when the opportunity strikes spend 10-15 seconds to install it in the unattended and unprotected computer, than to sit down and start snooping around with the risk of being seen and asked awkward questions like “what the … are you doing?”.

My point being – requiring the password every time lulls the user into a false sense of security. We’d like to promote a consistent and real level of protection. Also, requiring the password every time will tend to discourage users from using really good and strong passwords, and will also discourage users for using it on many frequently used files because of the threshold to open them “Oh, no, I have type that 25 character long password again”.

[SvanteSpectator]

Hello Arie,

I’m sorry – I’ve tried to understand the problem using Google Translate, but it seems to have trouble with Dutch. Can you try to explain your problem in english?

[SvanteSpectator]

Hello nobody,

In a small office environment (or anywhere else for that matter) – never walk away from your computer without locking it.

[SvanteSpectator]

Hello Andrey,

We don’t support Russian yet!

[SvanteSpectator]

Hi Bob,

You’re right. We don’t have a command line client just yet. We will in the forseeable future, but it’ll likely be later this year.

[SvanteSpectator]

Hi Ron,

Can you send an email to support@axcrypt.net with your account name, and if possible a screen shot of the AxCrypt window when you try to drag and drop a folder?

[SvanteSpectator]

Hi Ron,

I mean not a virtual folder such as ‘My Documents’ or ‘Desktop’.

Do you have Premium (or Trial)?

 

[SvanteSpectator]

Thanks Rob,

we’ll look into it.

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