Private Forms
Security and privacy
encrypted forms
SHOW HN2015
How HN took it
2 positive, 11 neutral or asking, 0 mixed, 10 critical, out of 23 comments about the project. Thread score -0.18.
Privacy: 0 for, 7 againstExecution: 1 for, 2 againstIdea: 0 for, 1 against
The thread, comment by comment
Each row is a top-level comment and its replies, in HN's order. Select a cell to open that comment on HN.
positive neutral or mixed critical about another commenter or something else the maker
What HN said
What people liked
Simple, easy to use product
From 1 comment
You have an interesting product. I like the simplicity of it both in terms of ease-of-use and ability to make it more secure later. Are you intending to keep this thing going or…
nickpsecurity on HN
Good idea for privacy-conscious forms
From 1 comment
Hi, HN! Founder here (on my 2nd "startup"). I strongly believe in the need for private communication, especially in the context of doctors-patients, clients-lawyers or…
sjs382 on HN
Objections
Client-side JavaScript still requires trusting the server to deliver honest code
From 3 comments
But the person entering form data - how do they know the JavaScript is OK? All users must trust the server to send js that'll encrypt correctly. This isn't visible to users. If…
MichaelGG on HNIt does mean that users must explicitly and totally trust PF. From a customer standpoint, the product might as well encrypt on the server side (immediately discarding the…
MichaelGG on HNForget even government attackers. The entire point of the product is to avoid trusting them. Except... you still utterly and totally trust them, as there's no way to verify what…
MichaelGG on HN
Claims of no-trust are overstated; submissions are visible to the server before encryption if JS is compromised
From 1 comment
> this way, not even we can view the form submissions That's not true. PF cannot view the submission /after it has been submitted, assuming your javascript does what you say it…
bramblerose on HN
Datacenter security FAQ is confusing given client-side encryption
From 2 comments
The FAQ describes how the data center is using super-sophisticated security. Why is this necessary if the data is encrypted at the client? (perhaps I'm missing something about…
locacorten on HNI'm sorry but I beg to differ. Encryption is a very powerful tool -- the whole point of doing encryption at the client is that we don't care about data center security any more.…
locacorten on HN
Form validation missing and example form 404s
From 1 comment
Submit with empty fields renders a 404 on the example.
davidcollantes on HN
Requests
Clarify trust model and limitations in FAQ
From 2 comments
I like your answer because you're describing a new threat model: an adversary tries to subvert the encryption process. Their service does not protect against such a threat.…
locacorten on HNMay I suggest you make this clear in the FAQ? In its current format, the FAQ makes it a big deal out of it without explaining that it's an additional security measure and that…
locacorten on HN
Add form validation
From 1 comment
Any reason why you are not validating the fields, to catch empty ones? Curious.
davidcollantes on HN
Add warrant canary
From 1 comment
That's an interesting (and accurate) point. An interested user could verify the source of the embedded page, and ensure that it doesn't change. This also doesn't protect the…
sjs382 on HN
Questions
How do users verify keys and JavaScript are not tampered with?
From 2 comments
How do users verify keys are correct and not being sent to your server?
MichaelGG on HNBut the person entering form data - how do they know the JavaScript is OK? All users must trust the server to send js that'll encrypt correctly. This isn't visible to users. If…
MichaelGG on HN
Is the project open source?
From 2 comments
Are you using any open source projects? I'm deeply curious about how you're doing the encryption and am usually skeptical of in-browser cryptography, though I'd love to be able…
pipework on HNLooks like it uses this internally: https://github.com/keybase/kbpgp Also, what's this? https://github.com/keybase/kbpgp/blob/master/LICENSE
daveloyall on HN
Alternatives named
JotForm encrypted forms
From 1 comment
Another example to how good ideas come out at the same time! We have just recently released the exact same feature. Not all JotForm users use it but the users who use this…
aytekin on HN
Mailvelope
From 1 comment
Cool. A few thoughts: 1. On the front page "Only you have the encryption key" could be confusing to folks new to PGP, consider instead "Only you have the decryption key". Then…
bgibson on HN