IOCipher lives! encrypted virtual file system for Android

 Posted on May 17, 2012  |  Hans-Christoph Steiner

Nathan and I just got the first complete test of IOCipher working in the IOCipherServer/SpotSync app. We created a filesystem sqlite.db file, then mounted it and got all the files via HTTP. In the test suite, I have lots of operations all running fine and encrypting! The core idea here is a java.io API replacement that transparently writes to an encrypted store. So for the most part, just change your import statements from: [Read More]
Android  encryption  open source  prototype  psst  security 

Mobile mesh in a real world test

 Posted on May 2, 2012  |  Hans-Christoph Steiner

Nathan, Mark, Lee, and I tried some OLSR mesh testing during the May Day protests and marches. We were able to get 4 devices to associate and mesh together, but not without some trials and travails. Two pairs of devices setup two separate BSSIDs, so were on separate networks. We turned them all off, then associated them one at a time, and then they all got onto the same BSSID and olsrd started doing its thing. [Read More]
Android  commotion  mesh  olsr  prototype  usability  voip  wifi 

Transparent encrypted virtual disks for Android (we call it IOCipher)

 Posted on April 3, 2012  |  Hans-Christoph Steiner

When using phones, laptops, computers, etc. it feels like a private experience, as if our screen was the same as a piece of paper, and when that paper is gone, then no one can see it anymore. Digital media works very differently. While the user interface portrays the deletion of files as very final, for someone with the right tools, it is actually not hard to recover deleted files. Also, digital information takes up so little space, we now regularly carry vast amounts of information in our pockets. [Read More]
Android  encryption  full disk encryption  fuse  open source  psst 

Adventures in Porting: GnuPG 2.1.x to Android!

 Posted on March 15, 2012  |  Hans-Christoph Steiner

PGP started with Phil Zimmerman’s Pretty Good Privacy, which is now turned into an open IETF standard known as OpenPGP. These days, the reference OpenPGP platform seems to be GnuPG: its used by Debian and all its derivatives in the OS itself for verifying packages and more. It is also at the core of all Debian development work, allowing the very diffuse body of Debian, Ubuntu, etc developers to communicate and share work effectively while maintaining a high level of security. [Read More]
Android  gnu privacy guard  gnupg  gpg  gpgme  java  jni  native  open source  openpgp  porting  preview  prototype 

Our new F-Droid App Repository (out of date!)

 Posted on March 15, 2012  |  n8fr8

Update: this blog post has been changed to reference our new FDroid repository at https://guardianproject.info/fdroid. If you are still using the old one originally described here which has the URL https://guardianproject.info/repo, you should switch to the new repo as soon as possible! For all of you out there looking for a safe way to find and download apps outside of the Play Store (aka Android Market) or random, sketchy third-party app stores and file sharing sites, then your wait is over: [Read More]
Android  F-Droid  fdroid  security 

Don’t Get Burned, Anonymize Your Fire

 Posted on November 16, 2011  |  n8fr8

Thanks to Jesse Vincent, aka @obra of the K-9 mail project, we can say that Orbot (Tor on Android) and Orweb (Privacy Browser) work just fine on the new Amazon Kindle Fire. This means that while everything you do through Amazon’s store and browser are tracked and accounted for by Team Bezos, you can use our apps to more safely and privately access web content through the Tor network. While we are mostly Nook Color fans around here, we know that the Kindle Fire is going to be quite popular this Christmas, and are glad to see that mobile privacy now has a toehold on the device from Seattle. [Read More]
amazon  Android  kindle  kindlefire 

Orbot Update: New Setup Wizard at Startup

 Posted on July 29, 2010  |  n8fr8

We’ve been working away at the 0.0.9 release of Orbot over the last few months, and have put a decent amount of effort into usability. Specifically, we hoped to better communicate to users what it means to run Tor on your Android phone. In addition, we wanted to clearly lay out how the various configuration options help to improve your mobile web anonymity and ability to circumvent web filters and tracking by your mobile service provider. [Read More]
Android  anonymity  open source  orbot  proxy  tor  usability  ux 

How To: Lockdown Your Mobile E-Mail

 Posted on July 9, 2010  |  Derek

Update 2015-04-27: _We now recommend OpenKeychain over APG, the app described in this blog post. The set up is drastically easier, so you probably don’t even need this HOWTO anymore. Start by downloading K-9 and OpenKeychain, then go into OpenKeychain and start the config there._ Over the past few years it’s become increasingly popular to sound the call that ‘email is dead{#y8a0}.’ And while many complementary forms of synchronous and asynchronous communication – from IM to social networking – have evolved since email first came on the scene, it’s hard to see email suddenly disappearing from its role as the most important way organizations communicate. [Read More]
Android  apg  encryption  openkeychain  openpgp  pgp