Intro This message was originally fielded to Reddit1 I’m encrypting some emails on my gmail, sent by an auto-encrypting app. When I try to view them in Gnus, it asks if I want to decrypt the message and, when I affirm, I just see: Error! Result from decryption: Decryption failed Decryption failed This makes sense because I haven’t given it any keys and have never done this email decryption thing.

Articles like this recent LifeHacker post point out that the recent flash of big-business password leaks not only indicates smarter hackers, but also more ammunition for the hackers since getting their hands on those passwords gives them valuable intell about what patterns most people follow in making their passwords. In other words, the XKCD methods aren’t good enough anymore. To stay more secure, you’ve got to think about two things: password generation, and password storage.