Encryption Scapegoated in Wake of Paris Attacks
In response to the tragic terror attacks in France, intelligence agencies have launched another campaign against strong encryption, such as the type that tech companies use to create secure end-to-end communication services. Intelligence agencies are attempting to blame the encryption as an enabler for extremists to plan and follow through with terror attacks. After recent attempts to stifle encryption failed, it seems like this is an opportune time to rebuild their attacks on encryption due to this tragedy. In a strategy found in a leaked email sent by the intelligence community’s top....
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US Senator John McCain told reporters that he will be holding hearings and will pursue legislation to require companies to provide the government access to certain encrypted user data. However, encrypted P2P platforms for secure communications are designed so that the companies hosting the services don’t have access to the content, which would create a problem if these businesses were forced to give up this information. Such legislation would require companies to completely redesign of many flagship products, and would ultimately hurt their business in general. In my article regarding....
Smartphone encryption has been a topic of heavy debate over the past few months, and the opinions are divided to say the least. Both users and manufacturers want to preserve encryption or even add additional layers to protect user data. But on the other hand, various government officials are proposing bills to have encryption on smartphones weakened by default. Weakening Smartphone Encryption To Fight Human Trafficking. A little while ago, one US state lawmaker proposed a new bill to weaken smartphone encryption by default, to avoid its use cases for terrorism and other illegal use cases.....
A newly released U.S. government study called encryption vital to protecting personal data, according to The Guardian. The leak comes hot on the heels of UK Prime Minister David Cameron's anti-encryption comments. The study, unveiled in Snowden's cache of documents, was secretly published in 2009 by the U.S. National Intelligence Council, a group that informs the Director of National Intelligence. The report described the global cyber security climate at the time of the report, and described projected threats to the U.S. information infrastructure. Notably, it called encryption the “best....
It is ‘deja vu’ all over again as Google prepares for a future that seems inevitable. Like the millennium bug of the late 90s, Practical Quantum Computing looks like the next big turn in this era of internet security and encryption. Preparing for Advanced Quantum attacks. The prevailing concern is that in the near future, personal information may not be so secure as hackers could employ higher level computing procedures, otherwise known as Advanced Quantum attacks to crack current encryption techniques. Considering the potential weakness of encryption which could make it vulnerable in the....
France and Germany are pushing for the EU to restrict the use of encryption. In a joint proposal released earlier this week, the interior ministers of the two countries attacked messaging services that offer end-to-end encryption, such as WhatsApp, Telegram, and Signal, for posing difficulties during law enforcement investigations. The proposal calls on the establishment of backdoors in encrypted services to “strengthen controls on borders outside of the EU,” “better share crucial information between member states,” and to “fully equip democracies on the question of encryption. The push....