what is killing PKI?

[Mark H. Wood]

On Thu, Aug 30, 2012 at 10:33:32AM -0400, Mark H. Wood wrote:
> On Wed, Aug 29, 2012 at 03:14:50PM -0400, Landon Hurley wrote:
> [snip]
> > I do have a question about where you talk about backups though. How
> > does PKI prevent back up loss?
> 
> If I can prove that I possess my password without ever disclosing that
> password to my correspondent, he never has my password and can't have
> it lost or stolen.  "Three can keep a secret, if two of them are
> dead."
> 
> It doesn't prevent backup loss; it eliminates the cost to me should
> some vendor's backups go astray.  No one can learn my secrets from
> people who never had them.  I only have to disclose my public key,
> which is not secret, to my correspondents; my private key never leaves
> my equipment unless someone penetrates *my* system or steals *my*
> backups.

More to the point:  my passphrase never leaves my equipment and isn't
recorded anywhere outside my brain.  You can only get it by getting
inside my computer.  That's not perfect but I like it a lot better
than the current setup.

-- 
Mark H. Wood, Lead System Programmer   mwood at IUPUI.Edu
Asking whether markets are efficient is like asking whether people are smart.
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