Decryption not working !

[arondel_1974 8]

Hello, I am using version 10.24.3.  I have a note with an encrypted text. The decryption does not work, nothing happens (no message)

I have installed the legacy version and the encryption works.

Thank you for your help

[PinkElephant 8,771]

Remove all (!) formatting from the text in legacy (no bold, underline, italics, bulleted and numbered lists, checkboxes etc.) and try again.

[agsteele 3,059]

The good news is that you can access the text via Legacy so nothing is list.

Did you create the encrypted block in v10 or via Legacy?

Whatever, I'd recreate the encrypted text block in a new note using v10. (Copy from Legacy, paste and encrypt in v10). Perhaps that will give you encrypted text which can be decrypted in v10. If so you can then delete the note that isn't working.

[arondel_1974 8]

Thank you. I created a new note in V10 without the table inside. decryption is working fine now on V10.24 and Legacy too.

 

 

[agsteele 3,059]

The table is the clue. Tables and other formatting don't function inside encrypted text blocks...

[Lemayp 58]

The exact same thing just happen to me with the new version of EV Windows (impact web and Android too) and Luckyli I still had the legacy version installed on one of my PC where I was able to remove the formatting.

One big annoyance with the recent version that allow you to change your encrypted note content (which is a huge + ) is the fact that when you decrypt a note to visualize the encrypted content it  will change the note update date, as if you have changed the note.  This shouldn`t be the case.

I have notes that I haven`t changed for years and that reassure me when I see the old date.  Now they get changes every time I decrypt them.

 

Thanks @PinkElephant/ @agsteele

[Alxa 495]

On 11/7/2021 at 4:12 PM, agsteele said:

The table is the clue. Tables and other formatting don't function inside encrypted text blocks...

I noticed this as well when trying this feature out for the first time with EN10 (never used it before)... I was surprised they don't support even simplest formatting or links in encrypted area - but you confirmed. Thanks.

[agsteele 3,059]

16 minutes ago, Alxa said:

I noticed this as well when trying this feature out for the first time with EN10 (never used it before)... I was surprised they don't support even simplest formatting or links in encrypted area - but you confirmed. Thanks.

Formatted text isn't supported on Legacy either. This isn't new...

[Alxa 495]

Exactly, I never tried before and had no clue. I was just surprised over the rudimentary implementation. But in the end it does not matter to me since closed source encryption is not the way to go when it comes to real confidential data 😉 So I will probably never use it. Thanks again for confirmation! 

[PinkElephant 8,771]

EN describes with some technical detail which algorithms they use, and how strong the encryption is. As they describe it, they don’t hold a key to what is encrypted, and can’t (beside of brute forcing it) open encrypted content.

https://help.evernote.com/hc/en-us/articles/208314128

Sure, in the end it boils down to whether you trust their communication or not.

[PinkElephant 8,771]

@Lemayp Just for the discussion, without any inside knowledge: EN says they stop syncing a note when it contains encrypted content and is decrypted. By this they try to avoid that decrypted content is synced to the server, which would render the following encryption useless.

Since they run note history (versioning) on all notes, they must run it when the note has been reencrypted. And I think they update the change date then - because they can’t look into the encrypted section to see if changes took place (sure, they could check a hash value etc.). I think they update the change date when they pick the copy for note history.

Just my 5ct …

[Alxa 495]

14 minutes ago, PinkElephant said:

EN describes with some technical detail which algorithms they use, and how strong the encryption is. As they describe it, they don’t hold a key to what is encrypted, and can’t (beside of brute forcing it) open encrypted content.

https://help.evernote.com/hc/en-us/articles/208314128

Sure, in the end it boils down to whether you trust their communication or not.

Thanks for the additional link. Exactly, trustworthy encrypting is generally gained by making the implementation code available for public review. But since EN just is a note taking app.... I think nobody would ever come to the idea to store really sensitive data on Evernote, so I would not expect that nor mind that at all 😉

[PinkElephant 8,771]

Personally I agree that using encryption needs some initial thinking.

But in general: I entrust my passwords to a password manager, and yes, it is one that I am not hosting myself. I trust these guys to handle it properly. So I see no reason for not trusting EN that their encryption is in reality working as described.

My issues are more about the practical side of it: You can only encrypt plain text inside of a note. You can’t encrypt an entire note, you can’t encrypt other content, and you can’t encrypt an entire notebook - which for me would be the most natural solution. I think I would start using it if I could define one or better several notebooks, that will be completely encrypted, with all content. To open them a decryption step would be needed, and when leaving they would automatically encrypt again.

Currently I simply trust that TLS/SSL is protecting my content between device and server, and that on the server EN scrambles all content to make it unusable without a proper login. This is pretty good, but of course not enough for more sensitive information.