I do not know what is in the Wikileaks insurance file, but Assange's lawyer has been using the unfortunate word "thermonuclear" in this regard. At least 100K copies of the file have been downloaded. If it is, in fact, an encryption of something, then the security of the encryption is currently unknown to most of us but would depend on how good the key is; I prefer to make no assumptions about that but say
The proper attitude to take towards encryption is that it is a useful way to delay disclosure rather than a way of hiding something forever; I am sorry if you dislike that point of view. Meanwhile, the 251287 pages have been given to at least four newspapers, one of which originally announced it would publish them all immediately (but then pulled back), and another of which shared them with a fifth paper. Wikileaks subsequently decided only to put on its website what the newspapers published. For these reasons, I think it is appropriate to take the view that
it's entirely unclear what wikileaks has released; again, I am sorry if you dislike that point of view
... WikiLeaks has also posted a massive, closely encrypted file, identified as "insurance" -- a file Assange's lawyer has described as a "thermonuclear device." ...
Assange ordered to jail while court decides on extradition
Posted: Dec 7, 2010 9:26 AM by CNN Wire Staff
Updated: Dec 7, 2010 10:55 AM
http://www.kpax.com/news/assange-ordered-to-jail-while-court-decides-on-extradition/... According to the Associated Press, Wikileaks gave four news organizations (Le Monde, El Pais, The Guardian and Der Spiegel) all 251,287 classified documents before anything was released to the public. The Guardian subsequently shared its trove with The New York Times ... The Associated Press has reported that Wikileaks is only releasing cables in coordination with the actions of the five selected news organizations ... Wikileaks claimed in August that the insurance file had been downloaded more than 100,000 times ...
COMPUTING
Everything You Need to Know About Wikileaks
Two experts lay out the facts surrounding the controversy.
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 9, 2010
BY JONATHAN ZITTRAIN AND MOLLY SAUTER
http://www.technologyreview.com/computing/26875/?mod=chfeatured&a=f... Encryption with AES is based on a secret key with 128, 192 or 256 bits. But if the key is easy to guess it doesn’t matter if AES is secure, so it is as critically vital to use good and strong keys as it is to
apply AES properly. Creating good and strong keys is a surprisingly difficult problem and requires careful design when done with a computer. The challenge is that computers are notoriously deterministic, but what is required of a good and strong key is the opposite – unpredictability and randomness ...About AES – Advanced Encryption Standard
A short introduction
2007-08-24
Copyright 2007 Svante Seleborg
Axantum Software AB
http://www.axantum.com/axcrypt/etc/About-AES.pdf