CIPHR_UserHandbook_V1

User
handbook
Version 1

Contents
1. Application Instructions
Intro ............................................................................................................................................................................................................. 6
Ciphr Mail
a. How to add a contact ......................................................................................................................................................... 9
b. Sending, Replying and Forwarding an Email .................................................................................................. 10
c. Inbox and message basic actions ............................................................................................................................ 12
d. Settings ........................................................................................................................................................................................ 13
Ciphr Text
a. How to change your Name ........................................................................................................................................... 17
b. Adding / renaming a contact ..................................................................................................................................... 17
c. Sending and receiving messages ........................................................................................................................... 19
d. Chat conversation settings ........................................................................................................................................... 20
e. Verifying a contact .............................................................................................................................................................. 21
f. Other options (Pictures, Voice notes, Ping, Favorites) ................................................................................ 22
g. Group Chats ............................................................................................................................................................................ 23
h. Ciphr Text Menu and Settings .................................................................................................................................... 23
Vault
a. Creating a new folder ....................................................................................................................................................... 26
b. Creating a new note .......................................................................................................................................................... 26
c Sort notes .................................................................................................................................................................................... 27
d. Backup notes .......................................................................................................................................................................... 27
e. Wipe notes ................................................................................................................................................................................ 28
f. Settings ......................................................................................................................................................................................... 28

Application
Instructions

Ciphr is a mobile privacy platform for
critical communications on Blackberry
10, and Samsung KNOX devices.
Our offering encompasses all aspects of
mobile security:
Ciphr Mail
(ECC Encrypted Email)
Ciphr Text
(Asynchronous OTR Messaging)
Vault
(Encrypted Data Storage)
Page 5

Some important
improvements over
old PGP solutions:
1. Keys are Created by the User
Unlike old PGP solutions where an admin creates your key, we allow users to generate their key on the
device. This eliminates the ability of the company to read messages, or turn over unencrypted messages to
an authority. We can’t disclose what we don’t have access to.
2. Key Regeneration
Old PGP solutions have one key for entirety of your subscription. This means if your key is ever
compromised, all past and future messages will be revealed. The new solution allows you to regenerate
your key as often as you like, protecting all subsequent messages with a new private key.
3. Anti-Forensics
One of the biggest threats to old PGP solutions is forensic data extraction from the device. With old PGP
solutions, all messages including deleted messages (since the last device wipe) can be recovered. The
new solution holds your messaging data in a secure container (AES-256) that is constantly overwritten and
scrubbed to protect against forensic recovery of deleted data from the flash memory. The Blackberry 10
platform also benefits from a stronger device security that stands up to forensic attacks.
4. Encrypted Subject Line & Contact Attachments -
Old PGP solutions send the email subject unencrypted, and contact attachments are sent outside the
message body also in an unencrypted form. We have addressed this huge security flaw, so the subject and
attachments are protected by the same encryption as the message body.
5. Full Control of Messages
With legacy PGP solutions, once a message was sent, the author immediately lost control of it. These
messages could be be stored, manipulated or passed along to another recipient. The new solution gives
senders full control over message retention times using our Burn messaging feature. The burn function
deletes the message off the device of the sender and the recipient after a predetermined amount of time.
Forwarding, saving and copying burn messages has been blocked.
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6. Off-The-Record (OTR) Messaging
Cutting edge cryptography is used to encrypt each message with a unique private key. This means if a
key were ever compromised, only one message would be revealed (Perfect Forward Secrecy). Keys are
destroyed after they have been used which also creates a situation where an investigator could not prove
the author of an intercepted message (Plausible Deniability). Group chats with up to 50 participants are also
available.
7. Two Secure Channels
Our secure email network is hosted separate from our OTR infrastructure which means in the event of an
unexpected outage in one location, you can still make use of the second channel. For especially sensitive
conversations, we encourage users to break up the conversation between the two channels (ex: question
asked via email, and response is sent back via OTR). This makes piecing together a conversation much
more difficult for an attacker.
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Ciphr Mail
Ciphr Mail is our flagship ECC (15,360 bit equivalent) email client. Messages will default to the heightened
security profile of ECC with backwards compatibility for older PGP email (RSA 4,096 bit) when an ECC key
has not been detected. We also use 4,096 for all TLS and SSL communications. The result is true Triple
Layer Encryption (AES, ECC, TLS).
Our custom message delivery mechanism gave us the opportunity to encrypt message metadata that
other PGP solutions have left unsecured. All messages headers, email subjects, and contact attachments
are encrypted, leaving zero metadata leakage for ECC messages. Images are encrypted using the same
encryption as the messages.
Ciphr Mail was built as a fully restricted to secure sandboxed container which means all message content
and address book contacts is stored in an encrypted shell. The phone doesn’t have access to any of your
secured content.
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a. How to add a contact
Ciphr Mail houses your contacts securely within
the encrypted application container. Adding contacts
to your Ciphr Mail Address Book will allow
you to quickly add recipients to the emails you
are composing. You can add a contact in Ciphr
Mail through the application’s menu or through
an email message received from the contact you
wish to add.
To add a contact through the application’s
menu, follow these steps:
1 • Open the Ciphr Mail app.
2 • Click on the menu icon
(3 dots on the bottom right).
3 • Select Address Book.
4 • Select New Contact.
5 • Input the contact’s name and email address.
6 • Click on Save.
Image reference 01
Image reference 01 >
To add a contact through an email message
received from that contact, follow these steps:
1 • Open the email message received.
2 • Tap the blue avatar in the top left corner of
the message.
3 • Click on Save.
Image reference 02 >
Image reference 02
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. Sending, Replying and Forwarding an Email
Sending encrypted emails is simple with Ciphr
Mail. Like most known email clients, you can send
to multiple email addresses or you can add email
addresses in Cc. You can also attach images or
Contacts.
What distinguishes Ciphr Mail from other mail
clients and from traditional PGP email is that you
can send a “Burn” message. Burn messages gives
the sender control over who sees their message,
and for how long the recipient can preserve that
message. Burn messages cannot be forwarded
to new recipients and cannot be saved for long
term storage. Another unique feature is that Ciphr
Mail allows you to send encrypted attachments
with your contacts. You can share one or many
contacts from your Address Book, or attach an
encrypted image taken with your camera.
To send a Ciphr Mail message,
follow these steps:
Image reference 03
1 • Open the Ciphr Mail app.
2 • Tap the blue Compose button at the bottom
of the screen.
3 • Enter email recipient(s) in To and “Cc” fields.
4 • Enter your message and/or Subject.
5 • Attach desired image or contact.
6 • Activate “Burn” by tapping the flame next to
the Send button (flame must show in orange
for “Burn” to be active).
7 • Tap the Send button.
Image reference 03 and 04 >
Image reference 04
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To configure the default burn settings,
follow these steps:
1 • In the Inbox view, tap the settings menu (three
dots in bottom right corner).
2 • Select Settings.
3 • Tap Message Expiration.
4 • Select the number of hours, between 1 and
48, for which you want the burn messages to
disappear from your device and the device(s)
of your recipient(s).
5 • Message Expiration Always On
o Select this to default ALL messages to burn
by default.
o Deselect this to default ALL messages to
not burn by default.
Image reference 05 >
Reply, Reply All, or Forward a Ciphr Mail
message
Image reference 05
Similar to familiar PGP email clients, you can
respond to messages in 3 ways:
• Reply – reply only to the sender.
• Reply All – reply to all recipients included in the
original message (to, cc).
• Forward – pass the message on to a new
recipient.
These buttons are found on the bottom row of
any open message and are labelled for easy
identification.
Image reference 06 >
Image reference 06
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c. Inbox and message basic actions
Ciphr Mail was designed to be easy to learn and easy to use. To make sure nothing is missed we’ve
included a few tips to help navigate the Ciphr Mail functions.
Here is a summary of functions available from the inbox:
• Delete a message: press and hold a message, select Delete.
• Delete additional messages: press and hold a message, select additional messages, select Delete.
• Delete prior (will delete all messages from a certain point): press and hold a message, select Delete Prior.
• Search Messages: select the magnifying glass icon, search by email address, contact name or subject.
Here is a quick summary of functions available from within an opened email:
• Flag a message: tap menu button (3 dots in bottom corner), Flag Message.
• Save a message (move to saved message folder): tap menu button (3 dots in bottom corner),
Save Message.
• Delete Message: tap menu button (3 dots in bottom corner), Delete Message.
• Mark Unread in Message Centre: tap menu button (3 dots in bottom corner), mark Unread.
Share message content to Ciphr Text or Vault
Power users of Ciphr Mail are fond of this feature that allows them to send and share content from within
the other Ciphr applications. This allows you to save a message into your Vault for long term storage or
copy the email message to be sent to a contact on Ciphr Text.
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To share a Ciphr Mail message,
follow these steps:
1 • Open the Ciphr Mail app.
2 • Open any email message.
3 • Tap menu button (3 dots in bottom corner),
Share Message.
- Select Vault to backup your email for
long term storage.
- Select Ciphr Text to send the message
to a Ciphr Text contact.
Image reference 07 >
d. Settings
To access the Settings menu:
1 • Open the Ciphr Mail app.
2 • Tap the menu (three dots in bottom right
corner of Message Centre).
3 • Select Settings.
Image reference 07
Image reference 08 >
Messages and Security:
• Font Size
Select from 5 font sizes.
• Message expiration
Select the number of hours after sending that
you want your burn messages to disappear
from your phone and the phone(s) of your
recipient(s).
• Message expiration always on
Select if the “Burn” function is on or off by
default.
Image reference 08
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• Auto lock after
Change the time before Ciphr Mail will
automatically lock itself.
• Maximum password attempts
Select the number of failed password attempts
before the application completely locks itself
and a reset is required.
• Online mode
If this is enabled, Ciphr Mail cannot be opened
without a data connection. If the sim card is
removed the app cannot be accessed.
• Quote message when replying
When unchecked, all message replies are
displayed as a new email with the email thread
removed. This reduces the amount of
encrypted data being passed back and forth
between participants.
Image reference 09 >
Image reference 09
Notifications
• Here you can set the default sound that is heard
when a message is received as well as if the
device will vibrate or not.
Image reference 10 >
Image reference 10
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Account
• Regenerate Keys
This process does not delete the contents of
your inbox, but changes the private keys used
to sign your emails. If a key were ever to be
compromised, all messages signed by the
same key would be revealed. By changing your
keys frequently, you reduce your exposure to
this risk.
You can change your RSA key only, ECC key
only, or both keys at the same time. Changing
the RSA key used to communicate with third
party PGP servers can occasionally cause
communication disruptions until the server
administrator of the third party server purges
the key cache.
• Change Password
Use this to change the password required
to access Ciphr Mail (this will also change the
password to access Ciphr Text).
Image reference 11
• Set Duress Password
This security feature allows you to set a “fake”
password that, when entered, will wipe the
device.
• Key ID
The Key ID (or key fingerprint) is a sequence of
bytes used to identify a longer public key.
When you regenerate your keys you will see the
key id change.
Image reference 11 & 12 >
Image reference 12
Page 15

Ciphr Text
Ciphr Text is an instant messaging client designed for rapid conversation. This software makes use of
advanced ECC cryptography delivered in an off-the-record (“OTR”) format. All keys are generated on and
never leave the device. Ciphr Text benefits from one important characteristic of OTR - a unique key signs
each message. This guarantees true end-to-end encryption and prevents man in the middle attacks.
Unlike most OTR applications, Ciphr Text is a true push messaging service designed for performance in
poor network connections. Competing OTR clients require both participants to be online at the same time.
Users of these applications will be unable to send or receive messages when either party is offline or in a
poor cell coverage area. Ciphr Text leverages advanced asynchronous OTR to deliver offline messages as
soon as the recipient comes back online.
Ciphr Text makes use of a hyper dynamic OTR PIN. This means if you ever wipe your phone or wipe the application
we will never be able to recover the PIN. This also means you can wipe your messenger app and
create a new identity on the fly without any assistance from the provider. The provider will not know your
previous pin or future pin.
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a. How to change your name
Your “alias” is the name that will be displayed
when you are communicating with other Ciphr
Text users. It is the name that you associate with
the alphanumeric Ciphr ID (CID) created during
the activation process.
You can change this “alias” at any time, by
following these steps:
1 • Open the Ciphr Text app.
2 • Click on your avatar in the top-left section,
this will open the “My Profile” screen.
3 • Change the name in the Alias field.
4 • Save.
Image reference 13 >
b. Adding / renaming a contact
Image reference 13
Adding a contact in Ciphr text.
A contact associates an “Alias” to a Ciphr ID (CID).
This helps you identify who you are sending
a message to as well as who is sending you a
message. You can add a contact in Ciphr Text
through the application settings but you will
need to know their CID or Email address. You can
also easily add a contact if you’ve received an
incoming message from them.
Image reference 14 >
Image reference 14
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To add a contact through the Ciphr Text
settings, follow these steps:
1 • Open the Ciphr Text app.
2 • Click on the settings icon
(3 dots on the bottom right).
3 • Select Contacts.
4 • Select Add New Contacts.
5 • Enter the new contact’s CID or Email.
6 • Click on Add Contact.
Image reference 15 >
To add a contact after you’ve received an
incoming message, follow these steps:
1 • Open the Ciphr Text app.
2 • Open the received message (you will see that
it comes from an alphanumeric CID).
3 • Click on the CID on top.
4 • Click on Add Contact.
5 • The “User Profile” screen will appear and will
display the name of the contact associated
with their CID.
Image reference 15
Image reference 16 >
Renaming a Contact
Once a contact is added in Ciphr Text, it will by
default be the one that the user has chosen for
himself but you may want to change it to something
of your choosing.
Image reference 16
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To rename a contact in Ciphr Text, follow
these steps:
1 • Open the Ciphr Text app.
2 • Click on the settings icon
(3 dots on the bottom right).
3 • Select Contacts.
4 • Select the contact you want to rename.
5 • Click on the contact’s name and rename it.
6• Click Save.
Image reference 17 >
c. Sending and receiving messages
The exchange of messages is the basis of
the Ciphr Text application. Here are certain
characteristics regarding messages.
• Timestamps:
When looking at a sent or received message,
you will notice that written underneath is the
time that message was sent or received. If your
device is offline or locked, the incoming
message will only truly be “received” once the
device is turned on or unlocked. This means
that the time stamp will be the time you
“received” the message not the time it was sent.
Image reference 17
• Read Receipts
When sending a message, you will see 3
different icons in the bottom left of the message
box. The “S” icon means the message has been
sent but not yet received by the other device,
the “D” icon means the message has been
delivered but not yet read and the “R” icon
means the message has been read.
• Burn Time
All Ciphr Text messages are ephemeral which
means they are destroyed automatically after a
predetermined amount of time. One-minute
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minimum to five days’ maximum. When looking
at a received message, you will see in orange
the length of time when said message will be
burned.
• Setting the burn time
You may set a “default” burn time for all sent
messages in the settings section of the Ciphr
Text app.
You may also set a burn time for the messages
of a particular chat by clicking the orange timer
icon on the right of the text box within that chat.
d. Chat conversation settings
Here are a few possible actions within the settings
menu of the chat conversation window.
• View Contact Profile
Here you will be able to see and rename the
contact, you can copy the contact’s CID and you
can customize the notifications for that specific
contact. The customization options are:
- Tone: you can set a specific ringtone for
when that contact messages you.
- Repeat: you can set a repeat rate for the
ringtone.
- Vibrate: you can toggle the vibrate option
for when that contact messages you.
• Delete chat
Here you can manually delete the chat
conversation between you and the contact.
• Block user
Here you can block the contact therefore
stopping the reception of any message from
that particular contact.
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• Share
This function will allow you to share the contact
via Ciphr Mail or Vault.
e. Verifying a contact
Contact verification serves two purposes.
• It reduces the likelihood of impersonation. If
someone labels their name in a deceitful way,
the other user will recognize the problem by
asking a question that only the recipient will
know the answer to.
• It enforces Cryptographic Comparison to defeat
Man in the Middle (MITM) attacks. The question
and answer are converted to numbers and
processed through an algorithm whereby only
the answer typed exactly correctly can solve
the equation. Because of this, the answer must
be entered exactly correct and is case sensitive.
Image reference 18
To “verify” a contact, follow these steps:
1 • Access the Ciphr Text Chat with the contact
you want to verify.
2 • Tap the lock icon on the bottom left.
3 • Select the checkmark icon and accept the
prompt.
4 • Write a secret question and an answer that
only the receiver would know (answer is
case-sensitive) and press Send.
5 • The receiver will receive a “verification
request” message and will have to input the
correct answer.
6 • If the verification is correct, both parties will
see a green checkmark.
Good to know
• The contact avatar that have not yet been
verified will appear yellow in the chat list.
Image reference 19
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• The contact avatar that have been verified will
appear white in the chat list.
• The contact avatar that have failed a verification
attempt will appear red in the chat list.
Image reference 18, 19 & 20 >
f. Other options (Pictures, Voice notes,
Ping, Favorites)
Other than the “verify” option, there are a few
other options available within the message
exchange. They are also accessible via the “lock”
icon on the bottom left of the screen.
• Pictures
Hitting the camera icon will open the picture
mode. In this mode you can toggle the flash, you
can zoom in and out and snap a picture. On
certain models you can also customize the
settings of the camera (brightness, delay,
resolution, etc…).
Image reference 20
• Voice Notes
The microphone icon will bring up the voice
notes and will allow the user to record a audio
snippet and send it to the contact. (max length is
2 minutes).
• Ping
The “ping” icon looks like a dot with ripples
coming out. Sending a ping is a way of alerting
the contact that you are communicating with
them.
• Favorite
The star icon is the favorite filter. By clicking this
icon, you will “filter” your current chat by only
displaying the messages that you’ve “favorited”.
To “favorite” a message in a chat, press and hold
your finger on that message and the star option
will appear to select that message as a favorite.
Image reference 21 >
Image reference 21
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g. Group Chats
Up to 50 contacts can be included simultaneously
in a group chat. Here are features surrounding
group chats:
• Creating a group
To create a group, access the groups icon and
tap the new group button. On Blackberries,
you can also create a group via the new chat
icon and selecting group chat. You will have to
enter a group name and, optionally, you can
add a group description.
• Other group options
Once in a group, you can open the menu and
select Add Member, View Group Members,
Delete Chat. You can also leave group by
accessing the menu within the view group
members screen.
Image reference 22 >
Image reference 22
h. Ciphr Text Menu and Settings
From the Ciphr Text menu, there are a few actions
that can be done.
• Contacts
Use this section to manage your current
contacts.
• Delete all chats
Use this action to delete all chats from your chat
list.
• My account
Use this to access details around your
subscription.
Image reference 23
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• Backup
Use this to back up your contacts in the cloud.
• Settings
In settings you can do the following:
- Lock settings: you can set the timer on
when the Ciphr Text app will lock by itself
and also set the maximum attempts at
unlocking it.
- Notifications: you can set the default
notification settings for when a message is
received.
- Chat: you can edit the details around
keyboard settings as well as set the default
burn time for messages.
- Passwords: you can change the password
(this changes the password for both Ciphr
Text and Ciphr Mail).
- Version: you can view details of what
version of Ciphr Text is installed.
Image reference 23 & 24 >
Image reference 24
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Vault
Vault is a secure storage application designed for organizing sensitive information. Chains of AES256 bit
crypto with multiple rounds of salt are used to ensure that sensitive data remains guarded. The encryption
key for this data is generated on the device and is not backed up to any outside server which means your
data is readable by you alone. Encrypted backups of Vault data can be stored on an SD card or sent as an
encrypted email attachment to a user-designated Ciphr Mail email address.
Page 25

a. Creating a New Folder
Notes are stored in folders within Vault. Images
in Vault are stored in the gallery. When accessing
the Vault for the first time you will see a folder
called “All notes”. You may choose to access that
folder or you may choose to create a new one.
To create a new folder, follow these steps:
1 • Tap the new folder button.
2 • Enter folder name and press Create.
Image reference 25 >
b. Creating New Note
To create a new note, follow these steps:
Image reference 25
1 • Open Vault.
2 • Tap the folder in which you want to store your
new note.
3 • Tap the new note.
4 • Type the title and the note then press Save.
Image reference 26 >
Image reference 26
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c. Sort Notes
When you have multiple notes in a given folder
you can sort them by Title, date created, date
updated.
To sort your notes, follow these steps:
1 • Open Vault.
2 • Tap the folder you wish to view.
3 • Tap the menu (3 dots) then Sort.
4 • Select your sorting preference Title,
Created or Updated.
Image reference 27 >
d. Backup Notes
You can encrypt and backup your notes by
sending them via email to another Ciphr User
or by saving them to an SD card. IMPORTANT,
you cannot send your backup across different
platforms (Android vs BB). Also, when you restore
a backup, it will erase and replace your current
Vault data.
Image reference 27
To backup your notes, follow these steps:
1 • Open Vault.
2 • Tap the menu (3 dots) then Backup Notes.
3 • Select your chosen backup method
(SD card or Email).
4 • Read and acknowledge the notice.
5 • Enter your Vault password.
6 • If you chose by email you might be prompted
to enter your Ciphr Mail password.
7 • Add your recipient and press Send.
Image reference 28 >
Image reference 28
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e. Wipe Notes
Choosing to wipe notes will revert the Vault to
initial status therefore erasing anything that is
stored.
To Wipe notes, follow these steps:
1 • Open Vault.
2 • Tap the selected folder to access it.
3 • Tap the menu (3 dots) then Wipe Notes.
4 • Enter the Vault password and press
Wipe All Notes.
Image reference 29 >
f. Settings
In Vault settings you can do the following:
• Lock settings: you can set the timer on when
the Vault app will lock by itself and also set the
maximum attempts at unlocking it.
Image reference 29
• Passwords: you can change the password (this
only changes the password for Vault).
Image reference 30 >
Image reference 30
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For more information,
visit our site www.ciphr.io