SafE Mail Corporation

We would like someone to be able or should I say try and crack our
encryption. IT IS IMPOSSIBLE.




Our Web site is http://www.sfmc.com  Phone number is 1-800-252-9938.



Randy Estridge
SafE Mail Corporation

M.Wagoner (1) writes:
> We would like someone to be able or should I say try and crack our
> encryption. IT IS IMPOSSIBLE.
> 
> Our Web site is http://www.sfmc.com  Phone number is 1-800-252-9938.
> 
> Randy Estridge
> SafE Mail Corporation  

I checked the web site, and found the following snake oil aroma
(caused largely by the idiotic commentary and the word "proprietary"
on the encryption algorithm...)

------
* SafE Mail utilizes a short 22 character Public Key which I realize
  is "great" for key exchange. Does this short Public Key the
  encription code vulnerable to attack?

       No! The Public Key is generated by a "One Way Hash Function"
       when the owner of the software names a private key or
       passwords. This makes the encryption code secure and not
       vulnerable to attack by unautorized individuals.

[Perry's comments: 1) personal pet peve -- using quote marks for
emphasis. 2) Er, whats this crap? I understand perhaps generating RSA
keys off of a passphrase, but that wouldn't help you with key
exchange -- your public key is 1024 bits no matter what you do. As for
the rest...]
[...]
* Is Safe Mail really secure?

       We believe so. Unlike other encryption software, SafE Mail,
       through its proprietary encryption algorithm, leaves neither a
       backdoor nor a master key for any third party decryption of an
       encrypted file. To achieve extra security, SafE Mail allows an
       unlimited number of multiple encryptions without corrupting the
       original file. The output encrypted file bears no hint to the
       size or type of the original file
[Perry's comments: Yeah, like PGP has a back door or anything, or like
it prevents superencipherment, or like it leaks what your file was...]
-------

Having read the web site, the thing looks like it offers no advantage
at all over PGP and that it might be a piece of junk. I say stick with
whats known to be good and is free. PGP's price is certainly right,
especially when you consider what crap the "commercial" stuff like
this usually is.

Oh, and to the folks at Safe Mail: I will happily test out the quality
of your software for my standard consulting rate. My time is, however,
too valuable to waste on stuff like this without being paid. If other
people want to have a good time testing your product out, let them
feel free.

Perry

On Mon, 17 Jun 1996, M.Wagoner (1) wrote:

> 
> We would like someone to be able or should I say try and crack our
> encryption. IT IS IMPOSSIBLE.
> Our Web site is http://www.sfmc.com  Phone number is 1-800-252-9938.

	Try putting your money where your mouth is.


Petro, Christopher C.
petro@suba.com <prefered for any non-list stuff>
snow@crash.suba.com

Umm... how bout some details on your "proprietary" algorithms.  How exactly
is the public/private key pair generated? etc etc etc...

And WTF is "INTERNET-compatible"?  And what qualifies your product as
"INTERNET-compatible" and PGP as not "INTERNET-compatible"?

>From your "Confidence" web page, it seems that a password effectively
*IS* the private key, and on another page you state that the "public key"
is exactly 22 characters, generated "using a one way hash function", perhaps
some hash or variant of a hash of the password.  Pretty feeble.

On Mon, 17 Jun 1996, M.Wagoner (1) wrote:

> 
> We would like someone to be able or should I say try and crack our
> encryption. IT IS IMPOSSIBLE.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Our Web site is http://www.sfmc.com  Phone number is 1-800-252-9938.
> 
> 
> 
> Randy Estridge
> SafE Mail Corporation  
> 
> 

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Jeremey Barrett
Senior Software Engineer			jeremey@forequest.com 
The ForeQuest Company       			http://www.forequest.com/

   "less is more."
		-- Mies van de Rohe.

   Ken Thompson has an automobile which he helped design.  Unlike most
   automobiles, it has neither speedometer, nor gas gage, nor any of the
   numerous idiot lights which plague the modern driver.  Rather, if the
   driver makes any mistake, a giant "?" lights up in the center of the
   dashboard.  "The experienced driver", he says, "will usually know
   what's wrong."

		-- 'fortune` output

On Mon, 17 Jun 1996, M.Wagoner (1) wrote:

> We would like someone to be able or should I say try and crack our
> encryption. IT IS IMPOSSIBLE.

With the above you have saved me the trouble of even trying.

Your appraoch to cryptography betrays such ignorance that nothing which
your "corporation" produces could be of the slightest redeeming value.

(Bloody snake oil venders)

Now go away.

> 
> Our Web site is http://www.sfmc.com  Phone number is 1-800-252-9938.
> 

Clearly a waste of good storage space.

> 
> Randy Estridge
> SafE Mail Corporation  
> 

---
My preferred and soon to be permanent e-mail address:unicorn@schloss.li
"In fact, had Bancroft not existed,       potestas scientiae in usu est
Franklin might have had to invent him."    in nihilum nil posse reverti
00B9289C28DC0E55  E16D5378B81E1C96 - Finger for Current Key Information
Opp. Counsel: For all your expert testimony needs: jimbell@pacifier.com

Please get a clue before designing crypto or allowing your marketing
people loose on the net.

This smells of snake-oil and your pages are full of inacuracies:

1) What is Internet-compatable (PGP works fine over the net, but it is
not).  If you mean RFC or other standard compatable (i.e. MOSS,
S/MIME, PEM), you aren't conformant to any standards.

2) 22 character Public keys are a joke

3) No crypto system is unbreakable unless you are doing some
permutation of OTP.  Public key systems are definately compromisable
with the appropriate application of compute power.

If you do not have a clue, don't play with those that do.



On Mon, 17 Jun 1996 17:21:36 -0400, the sage safemail@ntrnet.net
(M.Wagoner (1)) scribed:

>
>We would like someone to be able or should I say try and crack our
>encryption. IT IS IMPOSSIBLE.
>
>
>
>
>Our Web site is http://www.sfmc.com  Phone number is 1-800-252-9938.
>
>
>
>Randy Estridge
>SafE Mail Corporation  
>
>


--
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    ) ) (|  ), inc.        SSDS, Inc; 8400 Normandale Lake Blvd.; Suite 993
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 technology solutions      TEL 612.921.2392  FAX 612.921.2395   Fram Fram Free!
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