Paul Mah has something important for the FBI, all lawmakers and the rest of us to ponder.
“…the implementation of (encryption) backdoors is not a technically feasible idea. …the presence of backdoors being built into existing software will prove to be completely irresistible to cybercriminals. And we’re not even talking about foreign states yet, one of which is suspected to have created the extremely advanced Stuxnet worm. So yes, these backdoors will be cracked eventually, resulting in devastating consequences to U.S. businesses and interests.” (more)
FutureWatch Prediction – Not all encryption will have a back door.
Personal communications like phone calls and e-mail, yes. Government communications, no. A diplomatic pouch, even an electronic one, will remain a diplomatic pouch. Encryption in support of critical system infrastructures (like financial) will be licensed, with the proviso that the government can have the key under due process of law.
Some things will never change. Governments will still crack. Criminals will still hack. Terrorists will won’t care – they still have codes, cyphers and stenography. Businesses which take their counterespionage strategies seriously will fare better than those who do not.
The Ohio Department of Public Safety’s former top attorney has been fired for snooping on emails to his agency from the state inspector general’s office and an Ohio newspaper. Joshua Engel, who has been at the center of several high-profile investigations pitting his department against Inspector General Tom Charles in the past year, had intercepted emails since last October, said Public Safety director Tom Stickrath. (
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KS – A Saline County man has been arrested after authorities say he videotaped his family without their knowledge. The man has been arrested on two counts of felony sexual exploitation of child and nine counts of eavesdropping.
By Thursday afternoon, sheriff’s office personnel had reviewed hours of VHS tape that they had seized from the suspects home in Bridgeport.
This all comes after his own step-daughter found a hidden camera in the bathroom and notified officials. (
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NJ –
Rutgers University students wore black on Friday to remember a classmate who committed suicide as a lawmaker proposed stiffer penalties for invasion of privacy – the charge levied against the roommate accused of secretly streaming online video of the victim having sex with a man. (
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When SpyCam Story #1 was published laws against video voyeurism didn’t exist. Although many states now have laws, more has to done. I hate posting tawdry SpyCam stories, but do so to raise awareness. The victims deserve the support.
RIM co-CEO Jim Balsillie has no objections if companies that make use of its secure BlackBerry smartphones want to hand over their encryption keys to government officials. However, RIM itself has no way of providing the unencrypted content of the emails that passes through its network operating center (NOC), since it doesn’t have the keys in the first place.
This was the most direct answer to date given by RIM in response to government sanctioned wiretapping, a topic that was brought to the front even as countries such as the United Arab Emirates and India have threatened to ban the BlackBerry service unless RIM accede to their demands to a backdoor into its encryption system. Other countries such as Lebanon, Indonesia and Saudi Arabia were reportedly considering similar steps. (more)
Are governments going to accept this explanation, or say with finger poking their lips, “You will change your NOC, Mr. Berry. Un-zip it.”
Stayed tuned.
