https://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/06/us/nsa-foils-much-internet-encryption.html?pagewanted=all&_r=4&;
> The National Security Agency is winning its long-running secret war on > encryption, using supercomputers, technical trickery, court orders and > behind-the-scenes persuasion to undermine the major tools protecting the > privacy of everyday communications in the Internet age, according to newly > disclosed documents. > The agency has circumvented or cracked much of the encryption, or digital > scrambling, that guards global commerce and banking systems, protects > sensitive data like trade secrets and medical records, and automatically > secures the e-mails, Web searches, Internet chats and phone calls of > Americans and others around the world, the documents show. > > Many users assume — or have been assured by Internet companies — that their > data is safe from prying eyes, including those of the government, and the > N.S.A. wants to keep it that way. The agency treats its recent successes in > deciphering protected information as among its most closely guarded secrets, > restricted to those cleared for a highly classified program code-named > Bullrun, according to the documents, provided by Edward J. Snowden, the > former N.S.A. contractor. > Beginning in 2000, as encryption tools were gradually blanketing the Web, the > N.S.A. invested billions of dollars in a clandestine campaign to preserve its > ability to eavesdrop. Having lost a public battle in the 1990s to insert its > own “back door” in all encryption, it set out to accomplish the same goal by > stealth. > > The agency, according to the documents and interviews with industry > officials, deployed custom-built, superfast computers to break codes, and > began collaborating with technology companies in the United States and abroad > to build entry points into their products. The documents do not identify > which companies have participated. > > The N.S.A. hacked into target computers to snare messages before they were > encrypted. And the agency used its influence as the world’s most experienced > code maker to covertly introduce weaknesses into the encryption standards > followed by hardware and software developers around the world. > > “For the past decade, N.S.A. has led an aggressive, multipronged effort to > break widely used Internet encryption technologies,” said a 2010 memo > describing a briefing about N.S.A. accomplishments for employees of its > British counterpart, Government Communications Headquarters, or GCHQ. > “Cryptanalytic capabilities are now coming online. Vast amounts of encrypted > Internet data which have up till now been discarded are now exploitable.” -- Kim Holburn IT Network & Security Consultant T: +61 2 61402408 M: +61 404072753 mailto:[email protected] aim://kimholburn skype://kholburn - PGP Public Key on request _______________________________________________ Link mailing list [email protected] http://mailman.anu.edu.au/mailman/listinfo/link
