Hacker News Reader

The good thing about symmetric key encryption in the browser is easy enough to check. You just need to make sure that messages/images are encrypted before being sent to the server, and that the password is never sent to the server. Also ChatStep uses sjcl so the crypto isn't homemade like CryptoCat.

View on HN

Sure, I can verify that things aren't being sent in plaintext, and I can verify that they're using sjcl, but I can't verify most of the other things I mentioned. How do I know they're using sjcl right and not introducing some vulnerability (yes, I know I can dig through their JavaScript, but that's a plain in the ass)? I'm not saying I think they've got any problems; I'm just saying, be careful.

These sorts of tools, while convenient, are dangerous without a proper understanding of what you're doing. User beware.

And are you going to verify every message? Because the JS can be changed without you ever realizing it.

How can you make sure that the password is never sent to the server?

It could be encrypted with their own password, encrypted as a url to a css file, etc.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com