Comments on: Protecting “Cloud” Secrets with Grendel http://blog.wesabe.com/2010/01/04/protecting-cloud-secrets-with-grendel/ The Wesabe blog Sat, 31 Jul 2010 18:27:05 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: Marc Hedlund http://blog.wesabe.com/2010/01/04/protecting-cloud-secrets-with-grendel/#comment-4822 Marc Hedlund Thu, 14 Jan 2010 18:37:20 +0000 http://blog.wesabe.com/?p=690#comment-4822 @christefano: Grendel was named as an internal project and only later became open source. I think the realms are sufficiently different that no confusion will be common. @christefano: Grendel was named as an internal project and only later became open source. I think the realms are sufficiently different that no confusion will be common.

]]> By: christefano http://blog.wesabe.com/2010/01/04/protecting-cloud-secrets-with-grendel/#comment-4820 christefano Thu, 14 Jan 2010 06:24:54 +0000 http://blog.wesabe.com/?p=690#comment-4820 Naming this "Grendel" is potentially unfortunate because Grendel Scan is already a well known and respected security testing tool: http://www.grendel-scan.com/ Naming this “Grendel” is potentially unfortunate because Grendel Scan is already a well known and respected security testing tool: http://www.grendel-scan.com/

]]> By: Marc Hedlund http://blog.wesabe.com/2010/01/04/protecting-cloud-secrets-with-grendel/#comment-4818 Marc Hedlund Wed, 13 Jan 2010 19:18:46 +0000 http://blog.wesabe.com/?p=690#comment-4818 Stephan: If you're asking whether Grendel provides search, no. Documents in Grendel are kept encrypted so search would not be available. However, Grendel is not intended to be a standalone product, but instead a tool for use by web developers (like Memcache is). If the product using Grendel offers search over your documents, they would do it by first decrypting and then searching, while you are logged in. Grendel does provide a method for changing passwords. See "Changing A User's Password" in http://github.com/wesabe/grendel/blob/master/API.md Hope this helps. Stephan:

If you’re asking whether Grendel provides search, no. Documents in Grendel are kept encrypted so search would not be available. However, Grendel is not intended to be a standalone product, but instead a tool for use by web developers (like Memcache is). If the product using Grendel offers search over your documents, they would do it by first decrypting and then searching, while you are logged in.

Grendel does provide a method for changing passwords. See “Changing A User’s Password” in http://github.com/wesabe/grendel/blob/master/API.md

Hope this helps.

]]> By: Stephan http://blog.wesabe.com/2010/01/04/protecting-cloud-secrets-with-grendel/#comment-4817 Stephan Wed, 13 Jan 2010 19:14:29 +0000 http://blog.wesabe.com/?p=690#comment-4817 Two questions. * Do you offer full-text search? * Can the user change their password? Stephan Two questions.

* Do you offer full-text search?
* Can the user change their password?

Stephan

]]> By: Marc Hedlund http://blog.wesabe.com/2010/01/04/protecting-cloud-secrets-with-grendel/#comment-4816 Marc Hedlund Wed, 13 Jan 2010 09:32:48 +0000 http://blog.wesabe.com/?p=690#comment-4816 @Edwin: we will use that explanation from now on. It is much more impressive than the ones I offered. Thanks! @Edwin: we will use that explanation from now on. It is much more impressive than the ones I offered. Thanks!

]]> By: Edwin Martin http://blog.wesabe.com/2010/01/04/protecting-cloud-secrets-with-grendel/#comment-4815 Edwin Martin Wed, 13 Jan 2010 09:14:27 +0000 http://blog.wesabe.com/?p=690#comment-4815 I think it's obvious what Grendel stands for: it's the Dutch word for a certain kind of lock! Lock, encryption... sounds right, doesn't it? I'm not kidding, see for yourself: http://images.google.nl/images?q=grendel+site%3A.nl I was a bit surprised not one of the developers is Dutch :) I think it’s obvious what Grendel stands for: it’s the Dutch word for a certain kind of lock!

Lock, encryption… sounds right, doesn’t it?

I’m not kidding, see for yourself:
http://images.google.nl/images?q=grendel+site%3A.nl

I was a bit surprised not one of the developers is Dutch :)

]]> By: Marc Hedlund http://blog.wesabe.com/2010/01/04/protecting-cloud-secrets-with-grendel/#comment-4814 Marc Hedlund Wed, 13 Jan 2010 04:35:59 +0000 http://blog.wesabe.com/?p=690#comment-4814 Oftentimes Wesabe comes up with clever and meaningful names for our projects. This is not one of those times. I asked around and got these answers: "It sounded cool." "It didn't have curse words in it." "Maybe you can say it, like, destroys the data when it's not in use? Or something." So there you go. Not exactly professional branding work. But then, it is from a company called "Wesabe," so maybe it's a step up. Oftentimes Wesabe comes up with clever and meaningful names for our projects. This is not one of those times.

I asked around and got these answers:

“It sounded cool.”

“It didn’t have curse words in it.”

“Maybe you can say it, like, destroys the data when it’s not in use? Or something.”

So there you go. Not exactly professional branding work. But then, it is from a company called “Wesabe,” so maybe it’s a step up.

]]> By: C http://blog.wesabe.com/2010/01/04/protecting-cloud-secrets-with-grendel/#comment-4813 C Wed, 13 Jan 2010 01:54:20 +0000 http://blog.wesabe.com/?p=690#comment-4813 Out of curiosity, why did you choose the name "Grendel"? It's usually associated with destruction (as opposed to protection). I teach Beowulf to my high school students and would love to show them this and explain the link. Out of curiosity, why did you choose the name “Grendel”? It’s usually associated with destruction (as opposed to protection). I teach Beowulf to my high school students and would love to show them this and explain the link.

]]> By: Anonymous http://blog.wesabe.com/2010/01/04/protecting-cloud-secrets-with-grendel/#comment-4812 Anonymous Tue, 12 Jan 2010 17:24:20 +0000 http://blog.wesabe.com/?p=690#comment-4812 Grendel is the name of our 6 month old puppy. Since your app is a watchdog of sorts, I want to propose him for your use (like Tux or Mozilla's firefox or thunderbird) when you get around to branding. Grendel is the name of our 6 month old puppy. Since your app is a watchdog of sorts, I want to propose him for your use (like Tux or Mozilla’s firefox or thunderbird) when you get around to branding.

]]> By: Nathan Freitas http://blog.wesabe.com/2010/01/04/protecting-cloud-secrets-with-grendel/#comment-4811 Nathan Freitas Tue, 12 Jan 2010 13:28:39 +0000 http://blog.wesabe.com/?p=690#comment-4811 Interesting idea and thanks for releasing the code. Reminds me of how http://www.hushmail.com/ works a bit, though they used a Java applet as part of the process to ensure the key decryption happened locally on the users machine. Of course, that didn't stop them from being forced to backdoor users accounts when asked to be the FBI! Otherwise, this seems like a great project to run on Amazon AWS as a front-end to S3 or some other infinite storage system. Interesting idea and thanks for releasing the code. Reminds me of how http://www.hushmail.com/ works a bit, though they used a Java applet as part of the process to ensure the key decryption happened locally on the users machine.

Of course, that didn’t stop them from being forced to backdoor users accounts when asked to be the FBI!

Otherwise, this seems like a great project to run on Amazon AWS as a front-end to S3 or some other infinite storage system.

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