In the past, we were prohibited from sharing keys or strong passwords via email or chat due to security concerns. However, someone creatively circumvented this by encoding the string into an image, which was deemed acceptable. I’m sure many of you still encounter similar challenges. Therefore, I’m pleased to present a solution…
In today’s digital age, we often need to share snippets of text online. Pastebins provide a convenient way to do this, but many popular options lack essential security features. This blog post introduces our new secure pastebin solution that prioritizes both data protection and ease of use.
The Problem with Traditional Pastebins
Many popular pastebin services, like Pastebin.com, have two major drawbacks:
- Lack of Encryption: The data you paste is not encrypted, meaning anyone with the URL can view it. This is a significant security risk, especially for sensitive information like private keys.
- Search Engine Indexing: Search engines can index pastebin posts, making them discoverable through online searches. This can be problematic if you want to keep your pasted content private.
- Who is behind pastebin.com? After +20 years it is still unknown whois behind. Try a whois.
Our Secure Pastebin Solution
This secure pastebin offers a more robust alternative. Here’s how it protects your data:
- End-to-End Encryption: The text you submit is encrypted on your device before being sent over an SSL/TLS connection. This ensures that only the recipient with the URL (and, optionally, a client-side password) can decrypt and view the data.
- Strong Client-Side Passwords: For maximum security, we recommend using a strong, unique password for each paste. It’s crucial to transmit this password securely through a reliable encrypted channel like OTR chat or PGP email.
Important Security Considerations
While this pastebin offers significant security improvements, it’s essential to understand its limitations:
- Server Security: While someone with access to the server cannot decrypt stored posts, they could potentially:
- Modify the encryption code to capture passwords.
- View your post during submission or viewing.
This means you must trust us and that we haven’t been compelled by law enforcement to provide decrypted data 🙂 To maintain transparency, we will keep this blog post updated if such a situation arises.
- Search Engine Indexing: We use a robots.txt file to discourage search engines from indexing pasted content. However, search engines can disregard robots.txt, so there’s no guaranteed protection.
- Server Logging: To prevent logging of pastebin URLs, access logging is disabled on the server. If logging becomes necessary, we have implemented rules to exclude requests containing pastebin URLs or referrers.
Conclusion
This secure pastebin provides a valuable tool for sharing text online while prioritizing data privacy. By understanding the security considerations outlined above, you can make informed decisions about using this service for your specific needs.
