GnuPG 1.4.16 released
GnuPG 1.4.16 released
Version 1.4.16 of the GNU Privacy Guard is out; it contains a fix for the
recently disclosed acoustic cryptoanalysis attack. "A possible scenario is that the
attacker places a sensor (for example a standard smartphone) in the
vicinity of the targeted machine. That machine is assumed to do
unattended RSA decryption of received mails, for example by using a mail
client which speeds up browsing by opportunistically decrypting mails
expected to be read soon. While listening to the acoustic emanations of
the targeted machine, the smartphone will send new encrypted messages to
that machine and re-construct the private key bit by bit. A 4096 bit
RSA key used on a laptop can be revealed within an hour.
" Note that
GnuPG 2.x is not vulnerable to this particular attack.
Also worthy of note: the GnuPG developers have launched a crowdfunding campaign to help with GnuPG 2.1 development, update the project's infrastructure, and more.