Worse Than PRISM: The NSA’s War Against Internet Encryption

[Purveyor]

By Arturo Garcia
Thursday, September 5, 2013 19:47 EDT

The National Security Agency (NSA) has compromised encryption software needed to ensure the privacy of Americans’ day-to-day Internet activity, in part through a “breakthrough” in 2010 allowing for the mining of data through Internet cable taps, as well as secret backdoor access into commercial encryption programs, according to joint reports by The Guardian, ProPublica and the New York Times on Thursday.

The reports, based on thousands of documents provided by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, prompted immediate criticism from privacy advocate groups like the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).

“Backdoors make all of us less safe and make US companies less secure, which come at a great expense of the reliability of American companies — companies which have been at the forefront of the tech sector,” EFF policy analyst Mark M. Jaycox told The Raw Story via email on Thursday. “When programs are less safe, customers will leave.”

According to the reports, the program was highlighted in a 2010 memo by the NSA’s British counterpart, Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), praising its “aggressive, multipronged effort” since 2000, when the NSA regrouped after losing the fight to openly install “clipper chips” in regular computers.

“Cryptanalytic capabilities are now coming online,” the GCHQ memo stated. “Vast amounts of encrypted Internet data which have up till now been discarded are now exploitable.”

MORE...

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/09/05/worse-than-prism-the-nsas-war-against-internet-encryption/

[Thinkingabout]

1. I would bet my integrity on statements from the guardian.

[idwiyo]

2. yeah, but... BOMB SYRIA!

[Mojorabbit]

3. K and R nt

[MotherPetrie]

4. K&R

[msanthrope]

5. Oh--thank the lords of Kobol...I was waiting for something 'worse than PRISM.'

And here it is.

Do we have an expected delivery date on 'worse than whatever this is, this week?'

[Uncle Joe]

6. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, Purveyor.

[longship]

7. Sorry! Not buying that they are cracking strong encryption.

So don't go there.

Strong encryption is designed to be not crackable except by brute force. And then cracking one message doesn't help to crack another.

And using long key lengths means there isn't enough computer horsepower in the solar system to crack it.

So, if you want privacy, use an open source (i.e., no back door possible) encryption client and use a long key length. The NSA may be able to track the e-mail but they cannot read it.

Strong encryption is still beyond even the NSA, or anybody else.

But I wouldn't expect they have many people at the Guardian (or the NYT) who understand the mathematical principles behind strong encryption.

[Fumesucker]

8. You had best compile that open source code yourself

And then trust that the NSA hasn't put a back door in the compiler either.

[longship]

9. Yup! And there's back doors under my bed, too.

I use only Linux and open source code on my computers. If you think there's back doors on any of it, with all due respect, you are delusional.

Sheesh!

[Ratty]

10. The scary part

Are the hints that they may have convinced some companies to put backdoors in hardware. Open source won't help you there. Can't compile your own CPU, network card, or encryption chip.