31
Espionage 3 / Re: Mail refusing to Lock
« on: July 26, 2014, 06:10:01 PM »
Keep us posted on this. We'll also make sure that the unlock/size calc bug is fixed for the next bugfix update.
Forums temporarily locked down! Please read!
No worries, and let us know if you have any other questions!
Plausible deniability is a very difficult concept for us to explain without throwing too much text at users to read. We've tried our best, but alas our best isn't always enough!
This is not true. You are welcome to install Espionage afresh on some other computer to see what happens. If you do, this is what you will see: if you select zero space in the first screen (the one with the pie chart), it will let you proceed with the setup. It will then show you a progress bar as it fills the database with fake folder sets, and then you can proceed to using Espionage.
If you told Espionage to create fake disk images, they will be located in this folder (usually alongside real disk images):
/Users/[your username]/Library/Application Support/com.taoeffect.Espionage3/Data/
The only way to separate the real from the fake is to open each of your folder sets and make a note of each of the real disk images (in the Folder Details view). Then by process of elimination you can figure out which ones are fake.
No reason to apologize! These are all excellent questions that you are asking and they highlight that we could have done a better job at explaining what is going on in the setup assistant.
This is explained perhaps in more detail on our blog, but the reason is because Espionage can create two different types of fake data: fake folder sets, and fake disk images.
Disk images actually do take up a decent amount of space, and this is why that part of the setup is optional. So when you chose to not create any fake disk images, Espionage didn't create them, but it did still create fake folder sets because again, those take almost zero space.
They live inside a single file, what we call "Espionage's database". It's right here:
/Users/[your username]/Library/Application Support/com.taoeffect.Espionage3/database3
There are up to 40 backups of this file located in this folder:
/Users/[your username]/Library/Application Support/com.taoeffect.Espionage3/Backups/
If you have any other questions don't hesitate to let us know!
So, could you describe in more detail the history of this issue? Are you saying that you were a longtime user of Espionage 3 prior to 3.6, that everything worked fine and unlocked all the time, then you updated and suddenly it's no longer accepting passwords that it used to accept (repeatedly) without problems?
Or is your situation different (if so, how)? BTW, if you need to contact us via email about this, you can do so by emailing support@taoeffect.com and referencing this thread.
No problem. Zsolt sent me a quick reply. He said "It was continued as support ticket." (Not sure if that's referring to CreativeDesigns or Monterrore; I'm guessing Monterrore).
He also suggested that you have a look at our video on how to encrypt your email with Espionage (if you haven't already), and to reply to this thread if you have any questions.
Glad to hear of your approval!
Folder Actions are already encrypted along with the rest of the information about the folders. You could store a script that's run within one of your other encrypted folders...
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32
Espionage 3 / Re: Mail refusing to Lock
« on: July 26, 2014, 04:18:11 AM »
OK, thank you for that very helpful description! Please ask us, btw, if you think you should re-install Mavericks, as that's a very long process that we don't want you to have to go through if it's unnecessary (it wasn't necessary in this case).
The "clicking on the info icon to unlock com.apple.Mail" problem looks it's due partly to a bug in Espionage (the size of the folder is calculated synchronously with the unlock operation; it should be asynchronous), and partly because of how huge your Mail folder is. Somewhat comedically, you were "saved" by another bug that interrupted the folder size calc and allowed the unlock to proceed (clicking the Info icon shouldn't disrupt the folder size calculation).
The reason the folder fails to lock, however, doesn't seem to have anything to do with the above, but rather it may simply be that something is using the Mail folder and preventing it from locking. You said you "left Mail unlocked for several hours to allow Spotlight to finish indexing", but then you restored the folder. That sortof defeats the purpose, as now you'll need to leave it unlocked again and let Spotlight finish. I suspect that's why the folder isn't locking (because Spotlight is madly indexing it).
This has been a very productive system log! Several bugs found from it! Thanks very much, and let us know if leaving the folder unlocked for a few hours to let Spotlight finish (you can keep Activity Monitor open and sort processes by CPU usage to keep tabs on Spotlight. 'mdworker' and 'mds' is Spotlight).
The "clicking on the info icon to unlock com.apple.Mail" problem looks it's due partly to a bug in Espionage (the size of the folder is calculated synchronously with the unlock operation; it should be asynchronous), and partly because of how huge your Mail folder is. Somewhat comedically, you were "saved" by another bug that interrupted the folder size calc and allowed the unlock to proceed (clicking the Info icon shouldn't disrupt the folder size calculation).
The reason the folder fails to lock, however, doesn't seem to have anything to do with the above, but rather it may simply be that something is using the Mail folder and preventing it from locking. You said you "left Mail unlocked for several hours to allow Spotlight to finish indexing", but then you restored the folder. That sortof defeats the purpose, as now you'll need to leave it unlocked again and let Spotlight finish. I suspect that's why the folder isn't locking (because Spotlight is madly indexing it).
This has been a very productive system log! Several bugs found from it! Thanks very much, and let us know if leaving the folder unlocked for a few hours to let Spotlight finish (you can keep Activity Monitor open and sort processes by CPU usage to keep tabs on Spotlight. 'mdworker' and 'mds' is Spotlight).
33
Espionage 3 / Re: Mail refusing to Lock
« on: July 23, 2014, 01:25:28 AM »
Thanks for the log nomolo!
Strangely there's no mention of the com.apple.mail folder in it. Did you make sure to setup folder actions (for the Mail folder) to lock and unlock the com.apple.mail folder?
Also, you are right that very large Mail folders could result in some problems *initially*. The reason for this is that Spotlight has to re-index all of your email after you encrypt it (it stores its index within the disk image, which is good as otherwise it would leak data outside of the encrypted folder).
So I recommend doing the following:
1. Restart.
2. Make sure your folder actions are setup properly for the Mail folder (to open Mail and lock/unlock com.apple.mail).
3. Unlock Mail and let your computer sit there with it unlocked for like an hour (at least until you stop seeing activity from Spotlight/"mdimporter" in the Activity Monitor app). Make sure to not turn your computer off, and make sure the folders aren't set to autolock while you're waiting for Spotlight to re-index the folders.
If that doesn't help please let us know!
Thanks again for the system log!
Strangely there's no mention of the com.apple.mail folder in it. Did you make sure to setup folder actions (for the Mail folder) to lock and unlock the com.apple.mail folder?
Also, you are right that very large Mail folders could result in some problems *initially*. The reason for this is that Spotlight has to re-index all of your email after you encrypt it (it stores its index within the disk image, which is good as otherwise it would leak data outside of the encrypted folder).
So I recommend doing the following:
1. Restart.
2. Make sure your folder actions are setup properly for the Mail folder (to open Mail and lock/unlock com.apple.mail).
3. Unlock Mail and let your computer sit there with it unlocked for like an hour (at least until you stop seeing activity from Spotlight/"mdimporter" in the Activity Monitor app). Make sure to not turn your computer off, and make sure the folders aren't set to autolock while you're waiting for Spotlight to re-index the folders.
If that doesn't help please let us know!
Thanks again for the system log!
34
Espionage 3 / Re: Confused about new mandatory plausible deniability 'feature'
« on: July 22, 2014, 05:11:52 PM »OK - thanks - I stand corrected, but still feel that the process isn't clear specially as you've always prided yourselves on making software that's easy for non-techies to use. I've removed the fake disk images - they were easy to identify in my case as I've stored my real ones on a completely separate internal drive.
Thanks for your patience and I won't trouble you again...
No worries, and let us know if you have any other questions!
Plausible deniability is a very difficult concept for us to explain without throwing too much text at users to read. We've tried our best, but alas our best isn't always enough!
35
Espionage 3 / Re: Confused about new mandatory plausible deniability 'feature'
« on: July 22, 2014, 03:30:12 PM »OK - but the creation of fake images isn't optional - as far as I recall if you select zero as a disk space, you can't actually progress the setup - you need to select a number. If I'm wrong about that I apologise, but I'm pretty sure that's what happened.
This is not true. You are welcome to install Espionage afresh on some other computer to see what happens. If you do, this is what you will see: if you select zero space in the first screen (the one with the pie chart), it will let you proceed with the setup. It will then show you a progress bar as it fills the database with fake folder sets, and then you can proceed to using Espionage.
In any case, the instructions weren't clear at that point. I've now created fake disk images, but where are they and can I 'revert' that process?
Thanks again
If you told Espionage to create fake disk images, they will be located in this folder (usually alongside real disk images):
/Users/[your username]/Library/Application Support/com.taoeffect.Espionage3/Data/
The only way to separate the real from the fake is to open each of your folder sets and make a note of each of the real disk images (in the Folder Details view). Then by process of elimination you can figure out which ones are fake.
36
Espionage 3 / Re: Confused about new mandatory plausible deniability 'feature'
« on: July 22, 2014, 02:40:15 PM »sorry to persist, I just like to understand exactly what software suppliers are 'installing' on my computer.
No reason to apologize! These are all excellent questions that you are asking and they highlight that we could have done a better job at explaining what is going on in the setup assistant.
OK - thanks...so if they don't take up significant space why are you asked to allocate disk space during the set up...
This is explained perhaps in more detail on our blog, but the reason is because Espionage can create two different types of fake data: fake folder sets, and fake disk images.
Disk images actually do take up a decent amount of space, and this is why that part of the setup is optional. So when you chose to not create any fake disk images, Espionage didn't create them, but it did still create fake folder sets because again, those take almost zero space.
Also, where exactly do these Folder Sets 'live' - they're not visible in the espionage folder list - and can I be sure that if (when) I unistall espionage, all the components of the app will be removed
They live inside a single file, what we call "Espionage's database". It's right here:
/Users/[your username]/Library/Application Support/com.taoeffect.Espionage3/database3
There are up to 40 backups of this file located in this folder:
/Users/[your username]/Library/Application Support/com.taoeffect.Espionage3/Backups/
If you have any other questions don't hesitate to let us know!
37
Espionage 3 / Re: Confused about new mandatory plausible deniability 'feature'
« on: July 22, 2014, 02:18:07 PM »
Hi enkaytee,
Folder Sets are not folders. They are tiny encrypted lists in Espionage's database that do not take up any significant space on your computer. The fake folder sets are mandatory because they are "all gain and no pain" (in other words, there is no downside to having them, only an upside).
I hope that helps clear things up, let us know if you have any other questions!
Folder Sets are not folders. They are tiny encrypted lists in Espionage's database that do not take up any significant space on your computer. The fake folder sets are mandatory because they are "all gain and no pain" (in other words, there is no downside to having them, only an upside).
I hope that helps clear things up, let us know if you have any other questions!
38
Espionage 3 / Re: password doesn't work
« on: July 22, 2014, 02:12:22 AM »Thanks... your reply is crystal clear.
Unfortunately the folder contains items I'd like to retain. Have the stuff backed up on an external hard drive but would be easier to keep it in tact if at all possible.
Backups has a bunch clear up to 2014-07-20. All info is original so all backups should be the same, unless there's some kind of automatic incremental added info.
The "Data" folder has 5 items ... 2 with .sparse bundle; another folder marked Temp with 3 folders in that; a database3 file and license file.
So, could you describe in more detail the history of this issue? Are you saying that you were a longtime user of Espionage 3 prior to 3.6, that everything worked fine and unlocked all the time, then you updated and suddenly it's no longer accepting passwords that it used to accept (repeatedly) without problems?
Or is your situation different (if so, how)? BTW, if you need to contact us via email about this, you can do so by emailing support@taoeffect.com and referencing this thread.
39
Espionage 3 / Re: Lost all Mail
« on: July 21, 2014, 09:38:38 PM »Thanks for the fast response Greg!
No problem. Zsolt sent me a quick reply. He said "It was continued as support ticket." (Not sure if that's referring to CreativeDesigns or Monterrore; I'm guessing Monterrore).
He also suggested that you have a look at our video on how to encrypt your email with Espionage (if you haven't already), and to reply to this thread if you have any questions.
40
Espionage 3 / Re: Lost all Mail
« on: July 21, 2014, 08:43:43 PM »
I just contacted Zsolt about this. He's doing some traveling and will be back at the end of the week. He might be able to respond periodically while he's traveling.
I'm surprised he didn't see or respond to Monterrore's post (maybe he did, but over email?).
Oftentimes you should be able to tell Mail to re-import email from a Mail folder by doing File > Import Mailboxes..., so that might help.
Alas, I have never experienced these problems with my email so I'm not sure what's going on, and Zsolt did the original remote session with CreativeDesigns so I don't know how that ended (perhaps CreativeDesigns could comment?).
I'm surprised he didn't see or respond to Monterrore's post (maybe he did, but over email?).
Oftentimes you should be able to tell Mail to re-import email from a Mail folder by doing File > Import Mailboxes..., so that might help.
Alas, I have never experienced these problems with my email so I'm not sure what's going on, and Zsolt did the original remote session with CreativeDesigns so I don't know how that ended (perhaps CreativeDesigns could comment?).
41
Espionage 3 / Re: password doesn't work
« on: July 21, 2014, 03:26:21 AM »
Hi Ross, the "Espionage" folder is for version 2. Version 3 uses "com.taoeffect.Espionage3". So, if you haven't encrypted anything yet, and you want to reset Espionage, you can delete the "database3" file inside there.
Only do this if you haven't encrypted anything, as otherwise you will lose your data!
So, again, the steps to reset Espionage 3 are:
Only do this if you haven't encrypted anything, as otherwise you will lose your data!
So, again, the steps to reset Espionage 3 are:
- Choose Go to Folder... from the Finder's Go menu.
- Paste this in and click Go: ~/Library/Application Support/com.taoeffect.Espionage3
- Delete the database3 file and the encrypted data in the Data folder. Again, you will lose all of that data if you do this!
42
Espionage 3 / Re: Folder Sets and Plausible Deniability
« on: July 19, 2014, 08:50:56 PM »
This feature has been implemented!
Released today in Espionage 3.6:
https://www.taoeffect.com/blog/2014/07/major-advancements-in-deniable-encryption-arrive-in-espionage-3-6/
Released today in Espionage 3.6:
https://www.taoeffect.com/blog/2014/07/major-advancements-in-deniable-encryption-arrive-in-espionage-3-6/
43
Espionage 3 / Hiring translators! Help us translate Espionage 3 into your favorite language!
« on: June 02, 2014, 09:54:49 PM »
Get in touch with us if you're like to help us localize Espionage! We'd love to work with you!
Details & contact info here:
Pootle Tutorial: Guide for translators and developers
Details & contact info here:
Pootle Tutorial: Guide for translators and developers
45
Espionage 3 / Re: Folder Sets and Plausible Deniability
« on: March 22, 2014, 09:12:13 PM »Hey, that's great news. Way to go! I also just read today's blog entry of yours about this topic.
And thank you for pointing out the union mounts to me — I didn't know the Mac had them, too (they do still exist). Very useful.
Keep up the good work,
tzugo
Glad to hear of your approval!
Quote
PS: Are you going to encrypt the Folder Action scripts along with the Folder Sets database in the upcoming or a future version of Espionage? If one uses a Folder Action script to further obfuscate one's sparsebundles that code needs protection, too, and the best and safest place I can think of should be the encrypted Folder Set definition...
Folder Actions are already encrypted along with the rest of the information about the folders. You could store a script that's run within one of your other encrypted folders...