EJC Cryptography Support Forum / Guestbook
"The block ciphers implemented for CryptoLab use ECB mode instead of the more common CBC mode used for encryption. It is known that ECB mode is much less secure than other modes of operation."
I'm confused. Does this mean that ALL the encryption modules used in Cryptolab use ECB mode and are therefore much less secure?
I can't answer that, but I know that these encryptors are good enough to keep secrets from your competitors. Unless you are trying to outwit the NSA as well, these modules and modes are more than secure enough for most anyone.
The only block ciphers currently implemented for CryptoLab are AES, DES and Blowfish. All block cipher implementations in other EJC Cryptography products use the more secure CBC mode of operation.
This Wikipedia article explains the difference between ECB and CBC.
Thanks for your interest, and sorry for not replying sooner!
Your website says that crypto lab is portable I am having trouble with this my computer wants me to register everytime i move computers this sorta defeats the purpose of portability am i doing something wrong?
Hi Ian - CryptoLab definitely is portable! Are you using the Settings window to create your USB copy?
In any case, to solve your problem, just create a file called 'usb.dat' in the same directory as 'crypto.exe', and the registration window shouldn't appear. Hope that helps :)
In general, I must say that Cryptolab is a very good program and I look forward to future editions.
Why does Cryptolab connect to the Internet (aside from email communications)? Is this to check for the latest version available? In future versions I would suggest an option that disables this feature. Some may find the feature suspicious.
Yes, you are correct, it is to check for new versions. I'll be sure to remove this functionality in future updates!
I've downloaded the latest version of cryptolab but it won't allow me to register the software. Can you help?
Hi Jeff - I afraid I don't know why registration isn't working for you, but I've sent you an email with a registration key to use.
How exactly do you use the crypto chat? It is like there is vertually no enduser documentation to help individuals.
Hi Bob, sorry for the delay. There isn't really any formal documentation for CryptoChat, though I think the information on the FAQ page (www.ejc-crypto.co.uk/cryptochat.php?faqs) covers all of the configuration options.
Here is a quickstart guide:
- Leave the server and port settings as the default (unless you want to use a different IRC server, though most of the time this shouldn't be necessary).
- Choose a unique channel name prefixed by a # symbol. If you choose an already existing channel, then the users of that particular IRC channel will be bombarded with encrypted messages (this is not a security consideration, incidentally).
- Choose a unique username (if the one you pick isn't unique, then it will be changed to a different one).
- Enter a pre-agreed authentication key (this isn't used for the actual encryption, but just verifies people on the channel - this is discussed at greater length on the FAQ page).
- Click 'Connect', and you should be able to chat with anyone else who has entered the same channel and knows the authentication key.
I hope this helps,
EJC
Is there anyway to change what alphabet is used during decrypt; to limit what characters are output?
Sorry Paul, I don't really understand what you are asking. Do you think you could possibly expand on your point a little more?
It is also possible that an answer will depend on what cipher plug-in you are using. Thanks.
I have a small problem which may be the same as yours. In the classical Vigenere, for example, everything is alphabetical: key, plaintext, and ciphertext. Other people still use this system. EJC, however, uses the full ASCII complement of characters. Is there some way we (or EJC) could restrict those characters to the standard A-Z alphabet, and nothing else?
