[gnukeyring-discuss] Why do we store the password (even MD5 encrypted)?

[Chris G. <ch...@ar...>]

This is probaly a naive question but anyway here goes.

Why does gnu-keyring store the password?  OK, it's encrypted, but it
does open up the possibility of 'brute force' attacks because the
attacker can immediately see when the right password is tried, the MD5
encrypted passwords will match.

Surely, since we don't have any need to validate the password itself
(as one would for a login for example), the password can simply be
used to decrypt the data and the data is then returned.  The result
will be rubbish unless the correct password is provided.  This
prevents brute force attacks because the attacker won't know when the
right password is tried - unless he knows what the data is already.

-- 
Chris Green (ch...@ar...)

    "Never ascribe to malice that which can be explained by incompetence."