Filekey - Passkey File Encryption

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1

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Short description

Encrypts files with the passkey being the password.

Why I think this tool should be added

More options for users to utilize more secure passkeys over regular passwords.

Section on Privacy Guides

Encryption Client

2

seems interesting but few things, have you been able to use this?

I can generate a key, auth however seems broken

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I also would generally expect some whitepaper for cryptographic tools and await an audit to really recommend using it for senstive stuff.

3

I have not been able to generate a passkey either. Right now it looks like somebody’s personal project exploring passkey use. I posted as a tool to keep an eye on with interest. “Palpatine meeting Anakin meme”.

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4 Likes
4

I’ve located a reddit thread where other internet strangers confirm it works for FIDO2 hardware keys.

5

I would really like this to work with software passkeys too.

Maybe I’ll contact and let them know this and about this thread so they may jump in and clarify things as other devs have done.

Edit:
It does support software passkeys but it fails to generate it for me. Seems like a pretty big bug if it can’t even do this since it does clearly say it does work with software passkeys.

6

For everyone reading, here’s the demo on their Subtack:

7

Ah yeah can be but then their generator is misconfigured to allow creation of these, ill check with hardware later.

9

For software passkeys you have to make sure your password manager supports PRF. Many don’t, including 1Password and Proton Pass. Apple Passwords, Google Passwords, and Windows Hello do though (as long as you are on Windows 11).

If you tap “How it Works” in the filekey menu, we give a breakdown of how the system works. We intend to go through a full security audit when we’re done building it out, but for now you can see an AI audit from Claude: https://claude.ai/share/6e2a4894-25c3-4cfd-8b25-cfddd913fe84

Our source code is available if you tap “Source Code” in the menu if you want to try this yourself.

1 Like
10

:joy:

Filekey v1 is finished (which is what is live today). Right now we are working on Filekey v2, which includes an encrypted “digital vault” that you can store as many files as you want in.

1 Like
11

Yeah, folks here are optimistic but cautious with any new tool that comes our way.

I did try it with security keys and it does work exactly like you show in the demo. Encryption and decryption is ridiculously fast. Well done!

Wish I could star this on Github if you had it on there but I’ve saved the page/tool and will be playing with it more. And will get back with feedback or others issues should I face them.

One last clarification, since it is v1 - does it mean it is fully stable for what it is as of now? This is indeed an MVP if not a little more so I ask.

I look forward to v2. Thanks for making this again. Great tool from what I can tell thus far!

Edit:

@Proton_Team : please add support for PRF in Proton Pass. Thanks!

12

Hi, you can reply to multiple posts in one reply by using quotes (highlight/select the text that you want to reply to and a quote button should appear). Please don’t share personal contact details publicly otherwise, thanks.

edit: also I think the 3 reply limit is removed once you are added to @developers

1 Like
13

Thanks for letting me know, appreciate it!

14

I think that at least 1Password should support this as stated in their blog.

15

Would be great if anyone using 1Password can test it out.

16

It does not work with my 1Password install.

17

Darn!

Thank you for trying.

18

Okay - I have played around with it all last evening and here are my thoughts and opinions and feedback for this tool as it stands at v1. You may consider this a review of sorts from a user’s perspective and experience with the tool.

  1. Yubikey’s work* - I could not for the life of me get it to work on any other browser than Brave. I do not know why.
  2. Large files don’t work. At most, I could get a 1.55 GB video file to encrypt but even then, I could not get it to save/download the encrypted file.
  3. I know PRF is not supported by popular password mangers and the dev may have a technical reason for this. But from a user POV, it should still support passkey encryption for what software passkeys from password managers do support. It is incredibly restrictive for what this tool is otherwise. I would categorize this barely as a MVP (using product management terminology)
  4. Small files, documents, etc work well, encryption is fast and so is decryption. The save/download after encryption is still iffy sometimes and having used it as much I have, I no longer feel confident in even encrypting a small file at risk of the webpage not working to download/save it. In other words, it works majority of the time but if it’s not 100% for small files, the raison d’être for this tool is non existent.
  5. There is no folder support - only singular files. Somewhat limiting if you ask me.
  6. I could not get it to work on Windows at all. This could be because of several factors as mine is heavily debloated and many MSFT services and what have you are disabled but that should not matter now, should it. It’s web based and should work on any web browser but it doesn’t. I know it should as the claim reads - but it doesn’t. I have yet to try it on Linux.

Things I’d like to see improve or Things that must improve for the tool/project to significantly better its legitimacy for what it does and its potential (thinking of it from a user and user experience POV):

  1. All of the aforementioned issues.
  2. More info and guides on how to get this tool work work using all passkey options on all OSs and on all browsers. A demo for all would be evidence of this tool not just being an MVP.
  3. Recommended settings to have perhaps such that nothing is interfering with this tool for it to do what it should. The privacy community has all sorts of highly customized settings on different types of browsers so this must be accounted for when making a tool that’s likely going to be used by privacy conscious folks even though it ought to be used by all.
  4. Demo/support for the following browsers on all platforms (except mobile) in particular to give you a list (with default settings atleast): Firefox, Mullvad Browser, Brave, Librewolf, Tor Browser. Bonus points for more popular FF forks like Floorp.

@rockwellshah - please consider this honest feedback and not an undue criticism of your tool. I wrote all this because I care. I hope to see improvements in v2 and v3 going forward. Thank you again. If you have any follow up questions for me, I’m all ears.

1 Like
19

You can always zip a folder first.

20

I guess what I was referring to my request here was the tool itself doing that with the folder automatically if possible.

21

True, but I agree it’s annoying that we can only do single files at the moment. We’re working on folder and better multi-file support. Stay tuned.