Category Archives: Crypto

Passwords revisited

Posted on November 28, 2015 by Jacco

After having generated pre-shared secret keys for IPsec VPNs, as recommended by the NSA, I wondered how “secure” the keys themselves actually were. The NSA specifically mentions the use of “large, high entropy, pre-shared keys”. Quite some time ago I … Continue reading →

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Javascript IPsec configuration generator for site-2-site VPN gateways

Posted on August 28, 2015 by Jacco

Today, access to the internet is practically everywhere. Private communication across it is often taken for granted. There is an entire industry around secure communication and a lot of the equipment used for securing network boundaries, VPNs specifically, relies on the … Continue reading →

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Using Elliptic Curve with an OpenSSL PKI

Posted on June 28, 2015 by Jacco

OpenSSL is a tool that can be used to setup a (simple) PKI, but in its most basic form a command line tool with an endless amount of options. I find myself searching for the correct syntax of OpenSSL to … Continue reading →

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Tinkering with file encryption

Posted on July 4, 2014 by Jacco

Storing files overseas or “in the cloud” has become somewhat of an issue lately with spying activities of various nations. I think we’ve just seen the top of the iceberg, but at the same time I hope I’m wrong. In … Continue reading →

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Encrypted FreeBSD USB boot disk

Posted on April 1, 2013 by Jacco

It appears that USB attached storage devices resemble what floppy disks were back in the nineties. Back then, transporting floppies from one computer to another was very common. Unintentionally spreading malware and losing disks also. The risk of spreading malware … Continue reading →

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