Vanish – Software Which Can Self-Destruct Digital Data
We have already come across self-destructing paper where the content thats on it can vanish after a period of time, sometimes referred to as spy paper, well, now, the same idea has been developed for the digital world.
In the technologically wired world there is lot of data which is stored on servers, web sites and networks. Even on personal computers data which may be deleted can almost always be recovered. As such access to sensitive information can be hazardous in many instances.
Vanish is a software which relies on “shattering” an encryption key that is held by neither party in an e-mail exchange but is widely scattered across a peer-to-peer file sharing system. While it uses key-based encryption system, the decrypted message is automatically re-encrypted making it secure from hacking. As the Internet Protocol address keeps changing, it becomes difficult to reassemble the information again.
This software makes the data automatically self destruct after a specified shelf life. Web sites which want to protect themselves from hackers can use such software. Developed by a group of scientists at the University of Washington, this software protects all data which is used in cloud computing (where personal and business information may be stored on diverse servers).
However, the legal aspects of using this software have still to be sorted out. There are also some glitches in the software as well – it has been designed based as a plug-in module for Mozilla’s Firefox browser and the technology can be used only by the parties who have the same copy. Once the blips are ironed out, this kind of software has immense possible uses, especially for sensitive and secret information.
You can download Vanish or install the Firefox plugin and try it for yourself
More information on Vanish can be found here
Video demonstration below