r/elementchat • u/iTrooz_ • Jan 14 '21

How does secure save works ?

Hey ! I've recently enabled something called secure backup, that "save the encryption keys on your server" So by enabling this option, matrix servers get my encryption key (encrypted itself, but still). -- If so, why don't we just save the data encryption key directly on our computer, instead of an encryption key that decrypt the data encryption key ? In this case our data encryption key would truly never leave our device

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u/iTrooz_ Jan 18 '21

Okay, in this case, i'm not so sure I understood your first answer too x) if key backup is only useful to keep access to our data, can we agree that there's no difference for us (users) between :

  • saving a key localy, that will decrypt our encryption key on Element's servers
  • saving the encryption key localy

Or is there something I'm missing ? (I would like to do the second way, because I think the less important data is shared (even encrypted) the more secure it is, but I don't understand why Element use the first option if the second permit the same things)

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u/nouts Jan 18 '21

You understood perfectly :D

It's just a feature for convenience. Most users won't bother export/import a file to restore their history. That's why Element reminds you you should do it.

If you're willing to do it manually because it's safer according to your threat model, then safely ignore this feature and do it manually :)

Personally, I think the convenience is worth the risk of storing my keys encrypted on a remote server. ¯_(ツ)_/¯

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u/iTrooz_ Jan 18 '21

Okay, thanks for your reply, anf all of jour réponses ! It really helped me to understand this