Original Idea

The original idea for the Epadlock came when I needed to get some codes emailed to me, but the sender didn't use any form of encryption for email like PGP.

So I looked around for a simple system that he could use to encrypt the message, which means some form of public key/private key system - so I created the Epadlock to convey the codes securely.

Letters and Postcards

An email is like a postcard. Everything you write is in the public domain, it will be stored on a number of servers and can be read by anyone who gets into your email account. By giving the content a level of encryption you are effectively turning the postcard into a letter adding a layer of protection for your data. It is not impossible to read the true content, but it will take a concerted effort to do so - normally enough to deter most people.

The Epadlock Process

The padlock is in effect the public key. So the sender of the message uses it to encrypt the message and you use your private 'key' to decrypt the message. You create the padlock and key on your computer and keep the key safe and send the padlock to the sender of the information you want to receive. Only the key can unlock the padlock.

HTML and Javascript

Epadlock has been created using html and javascript to create the keys. It is possible to create software to do this, but you would need different versions for different operating systems. I wanted the system as simple and transparent as possible. It should work on any modern internet browser with javascript enabled. It is also completely transparent - you can read the source code of the html files, so nothing hidden, the software is just doing what you think, you can trust what you are using.

Sources

Javascript codes : these come from a range of freely available sources but I used the pidcrypt library.

PGP Encryption: OpenPGP

Principles of Public/Private Key encryption (Wikipedia): DETAILS HERE