Disk Utility links encrypted folders to their sparse images

[nomolo]

I've just noticed that if I open Disk Utility, it lists each unlocked Espionage folder together with its sparse image and allows you to reveal the location of each sparse image by ctrl-clicking it in the Disk Utility list.  This is so even if Espionage itself is locked. Doesn't this undermine 'plausible deniability'?

(I'm using Espionage 3.6.2 and Mavericks 10.9.5)

[zsolt]

Hello, it is a known issue to us. It is on our list to check and try to fix. Whereas definitely not a welcome thing, I think it does make the data less secure or have an influence to plausible deniability. It just provides hint to where are the disk images located, but you still cannot open them without password, and you still cannot say how many "real" disk images you have.

Anyway, thanks for reminding us that this is still something we should look better into.

Rgds
Zsolt

[greg]

Dear nomolo,

Thanks for bringing this to our attention!

I have good news and bad news. Bad news first: there is no way to prevent Disk Utility from showing these disk images while the folders are unlocked.

The good news is that you *can* clear this list after folders are locked, and you can do it right now without waiting for us to update Espionage to automatically do it.

Simply use Platypus to create an application that runs the following command:

Code Select Expand

defaults delete com.apple.DiskUtility DUSavedDiskImageList

Put that command in the script it runs, and export the thing as an application bundle. Then for all your folders, add a folder action to run that app every time you lock a folder. This will clear the list of disk images from that preferences file.

We'll make sure to add this to the next update so that Espionage automatically does this for you.

Remember: plausible deniability is very hard, and as you notice, just one leak is all it takes to reduce it, so it's a never ending battle.

[nomolo]

Many thanks Greg - I'll give that a try!