Snake Oil (was: macworld crypto article)

[Deranged Mutant <rrothenb@ic.sunysb.edu>]

Dave Mandl wrote about some lame Mac crypto thing...
[..]
> Yup, pretty amazing.  I only skimmed the article, but I believe that out of
> all the programs he tried, there was only one whose crypto he couldn't
> crack.  I found it all a little hard to believe.  I mean, even if they used
> the most obsolete algorithm, wouldn't you have to know _something_ about
> cryptanalysis to crack it?  Are these vendors just putting a "this file is
> locked with this such and such a password" string at the front of the file,
> or what?

[..]

Sounds like it's time for a Snake-Oil FAQ...

Rob