Not in front of the child: New message encrypting technology

Not in front of the child: New message encrypting technology

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28940210_mHow can we keep our delicate e-mails private? That is a problem faced everyday by many million people around the world.

Encrypting e-mails can be tedious, difficult, and very confusing. Even for those who have mastered the process, it is useless unless the intended recipient has the correct software to decode the message. A Georgia Institute of Technology researcher has created an easier method — one that sounds familiar to parents who try to outsmart their 8-year-old child. The new technique gets rid of the complicated, mathematically generated messages that are typical of encryption softwares. Instead, the method transforms specific e-mails into ones that are vague by leaving out key words.

“It’s kind of like when mom and dad are talking about potential vacation spots while the kids are nearby,” said Eric Gilbert, the Georgia Tech assistant professor who developed the software. “They can’t say or spell ‘Disney,’ or the children will get too excited. So they use other words and the meaning is implied. Instead of ‘Disney,’ they could say ‘have you bought tickets to the place yet.’”

A Georgia Tech release reports that Gilbert’s Open Book system, a prototype that uses a Google Mail plug-in called Read Me, works the same way by substituting specific words with ambiguous ones. If the above example was an e-mail conversation, the sender would write: “Have you bought tickets to Disney yet?” Open Book would change the message when it was sent. The other person would see, “Have you bought tickets to (place) yet?”

According to HomeLand Security News Wire , the process reduces the information disclosed to eavesdroppers or computer systems that monitor online communications, while taking advantage of common ground between the participants.