Puree
Security and privacy
disk encryption
SHOW HN2020
How HN took it
4 positive, 12 neutral or asking, 2 mixed, 14 critical, out of 32 comments about the project. Thread score -0.26.
Privacy: 1 for, 6 againstIdea: 0 for, 6 againstExecution: 1 for, 1 againstDocs: 1 for, 0 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
Interesting project with simple design and useful subvolume and multiple password slot features
From 2 comments
I really like this, especially the part that allows subvolumes and multiple password slots. One thing I didn't really understand or maybe simply missed in the paper is how data…
13415 on HNI like that the quick start guide uses /dev/sdz in the examples, so that copy-pasting will generally not work and you don't risk wiping a disk that actually exists.
p4bl0 on HN
Objections
Deniable encryption is only useful in narrow coercion scenarios
From 2 comments
Interesting, but only useful in a specific situation (decryption coercion). And probably not that effective in such situations. Obligatory XKCD: https://xkcd.com/538/ Obviously…
GekkePrutser on HNFrom the article: > Clearly, it is trivial to detect that a disk is encrypted with LUKS. In fact, this isn't just a problem with LUKS; but also with most password-based disk…
bawolff on HN
Claim of being first is inaccurate; TrueCrypt/VeraCrypt and PGP Disk offer similar features
From 3 comments
There is https://github.com/kriswebdev/cryptsetup-deluks: "The DeLUKS header is designed to be indistinguishible from random data." And also volumes by the quite popular…
rendx on HNPGP Disk also had "deniable encryption". So this is certainly not "first" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deniable_encryption Also see the Wikipedia chart for "Hidden Containers"…
fortran77 on HNTrueCrypt/VeraCrypt can do the same stuff but with physical drives, so yes, the claim of 'first' is inaccurate even with that technicality in mind. The reason why that's not the…
jchw on HN
Only one-pass password hashing without memory hardness in the comparison; key-derivation concerns
From 1 comment
No memory hardness and no data dependence. Along with that SHA1 is really simple to implement on ASICs, FPGA, GPUs and such. This means that you can do lots of tests in parallel…
simcop2387 on HN
Requests
Implement backup headers and subvolume support
From 2 comments
> especially the part that allows subvolumes and multiple password slots Admittedly backup headers are not yet implemented. (I had to release an MVP at some point.) > how [is]…
notfed on HNI fully admit to prior ignorance of VeraCrypt's abilities. From what I read on their website, I don't disagree with you. I will add that the PUREE specification does support…
notfed on HN
Compare with TrueCrypt disk and container format in the white paper
From 1 comment
In the white paper I can't find a comparison with or even mention of TrueCrypt disk/container format, which also offers plausible deniability. Does PUREE improves over it on…
ComodoHacker on HN
Questions
How is data integrity and bad block handling managed
From 1 comment
I really like this, especially the part that allows subvolumes and multiple password slots. One thing I didn't really understand or maybe simply missed in the paper is how data…
13415 on HN
Are repeated shadow headers detectable on disk
From 1 comment
From the white paper: "If additional shadow headers are used, their suggested locations are (where possible) at the sectors starting at offsets 128MiB, 128GiB, and 128TiB" Is…
akkishore on HN
Alternatives named
VeraCrypt
From 2 comments
There is https://github.com/kriswebdev/cryptsetup-deluks: "The DeLUKS header is designed to be indistinguishible from random data." And also volumes by the quite popular…
rendx on HNTrueCrypt/VeraCrypt can do the same stuff but with physical drives, so yes, the claim of 'first' is inaccurate even with that technicality in mind. The reason why that's not the…
jchw on HN
TrueCrypt
From 1 comment
TrueCrypt can also do full disk encryption however full disk encryption is LESS safe than a hidden file/volume. The reason is that the lack of a non-encrypted volume on a disk…
marcinzm on HN
LUKS
From 2 comments
You can also simply have LUKS with a detached header - I know some people that have their header and boot partitions exclusively on a USB, so that it's required to be in…
chc4 on HNInteresting, but only useful in a specific situation (decryption coercion). And probably not that effective in such situations. Obligatory XKCD: https://xkcd.com/538/ Obviously…
GekkePrutser on HN
DeLUKS
From 1 comment
There is https://github.com/kriswebdev/cryptsetup-deluks: "The DeLUKS header is designed to be indistinguishible from random data." And also volumes by the quite popular…
rendx on HN
PGP Disk
From 1 comment
PGP Disk also had "deniable encryption". So this is certainly not "first" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deniable_encryption Also see the Wikipedia chart for "Hidden Containers"…
fortran77 on HN