crypt(1) User Commands crypt(1)NAMEcrypt - encode or decode a file
SYNOPSIScrypt [password]
DESCRIPTION
The crypt utility is deprecated and should only be used to decode files
previously encoded using this utility. Going forward, use the
encrypt(1)utility, which gives you access to more advanced symmetric
ciphers, as available through the cryptographic framework.
The crypt utility encrypts and decrypts the contents of a file. crypt
reads from the standard input and writes on the standard output. The
password is a key that selects a particular transformation. If no pass‐
word is given, crypt demands a key from the terminal and turns off
printing while the key is being typed in. crypt encrypts and decrypts
with the same key:
example% crypt key < clear.file > encrypted.file
example% crypt key < encrypted.file | pr
prints the contents of clear.file.
Files encrypted by crypt are compatible with those treated by the edi‐
tors ed(1), ex(1), and vi(1) in encryption mode.
The security of encrypted files depends on three factors: the funda‐
mental method must be hard to solve; direct search of the key space
must be infeasible; "sneak paths" by which keys or cleartext can become
visible must be minimized.
crypt implements a one-rotor machine designed along the lines of the
German Enigma, but with a 256-element rotor. Methods of attack on such
machines are widely known, thus crypt provides minimal security.
The transformation of a key into the internal settings of the machine
is deliberately designed to be expensive, that is, to take a substan‐
tial fraction of a second to compute. However, if keys are restricted
to (say) three lower-case letters, then encrypted files can be read by
expending only a substantial fraction of five minutes of machine time.
Since the key is an argument to the crypt command, it is potentially
visible to users executing ps(1) or a derivative command. To minimize
this possibility, crypt takes care to destroy any record of the key
immediately upon entry. No doubt the choice of keys and key security
are the most vulnerable aspect of crypt.
FILES
/dev/tty for typed key
ATTRIBUTES
See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following attributes:
┌─────────────────────────────┬─────────────────────────────┐
│ ATTRIBUTE TYPE │ ATTRIBUTE VALUE │
├─────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┤
│Availability │SUNWcsu │
└─────────────────────────────┴─────────────────────────────┘
SEE ALSOed(1), encrypt(1), ex(1), ps(1), vi(1), attributes(5)SunOS 5.10 9 Dec 2010 crypt(1)
