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Going Dark

25 Thursday Feb 2016

Posted by Ed Mahoney in cyber war, Geek Horror, Running

≈ 1 Comment

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Apple, cryptanalysis, cryptography, FBI, scytale, Simon Singh, steganography, The Code Book

scytale 2

FBI Director James Comey testified to Congress today that encryption will end law enforcement’s ability to perform their job.  He suggests that the FBI’s primary tool is court orders to search for information, and he makes the general assumption that data is never accessible once encrypted.  To paraphrase, encryption leads to information “going dark” for the purpose of public safety.  As if encryption is game over for the FBI.  This reminds me of a famous quote (famous misquote actually as I don’t believe this is true) attributed to the Commissioner of U.S. Patent and Trademark office Charles Duell when he purportedly quipped, “Everything that can be invented has been invented.”  Comey seems like a decent guy but suggesting that the FBI requires clear text access to American’s data because the court order process is predicated on this is disingenuous.  The FBI has an obligation to keep up with technology.

I stated in my previous blog on this topic that cryptography and cryptanalysis have been playing a cat and mouse game throughout world history.  So let’s review that, because I believe government is obligated to defeat encryption technologically rather than by  eroding America’s privacy laws.  To be fair, I recognize they are currently playing catch-up.  Consider that cyber crime is nearly a half trillion dollar market.  Security products and services are well under $100B market.  Meaning we are applying $100B to the good side and cyber criminals are making $500B.  So I can sympathize with Comey.  The bad guys are winning.

Understand the etymology of these terms.  We began by covering up secrets.  For example, Histaiaeus, in the 5th century BC, wrote his message for Miletus to revolt against the Persian King on his messenger’s shaven head.  He then waited for his messenger’s hair to grow back before sending him on his way.  This was before instant messaging.  A similar technique was used in the latest version of Mad Max.  “Steganos” is Greek for “covered” while “graphein” is the Greek term “to write”, hence steganography means “covered writing.”  So steganography was the art of covering up a message.  It goes without saying, one didn’t necessarily have to be a rocket scientist to be a code breaker back in the day.

The art of secrecy evolved to hiding the meaning of the message, rather than simply covering up the message itself – with the understanding the message will likely be discovered eventually.  The Greek term for “hidden” is “kryptos”; hence we use the term “cryptography” which we now practice with encryption.  The picture above is of a 5th century Spartan Scytale that transposed the position of letters to hide the meaning of the otherwise open message.

Technology advanced and today one does have to be a rocket scientist to be a code breaker.  Bill Gates was quoted by Representative Bob Goodlatte (wonder if he owns shares in Starbucks?) in today’s Congressional Hearing as suggesting Quantum Computing will soon be powerful enough to break any encryption.  I don’t know about that but point is technology does eventually catch up in this cat and mouse game.  Consider the plight of Mary, Queen of Scots.

On trial for treason, her prosecutor, Sir Francis Walsingham was also England’s Spymaster.  Sir Walsingham first captured Mary’s correspondance, which she hid inside the hollow bungs that sealed barrels of beer.  This was steganography.  But Mary was clever and further used a cypher to hide the meaning of her correspondence.  Sir Walsingham engaged Thomas Phelippes to perform the requisite cryptanalysis and ultimately succeeded in proving Mary’s guilt.  The rest is history.  Point being, Cryptanalysis was on par with the cryptography of the time.  Fast forward to WWII where the British successfully decoded the German’s Enigma with the use of early computing technology.  So Bill Gates might actually know what he’s talking about.

I’m in the cyber security industry and agree with Comey that the bad guys are winning.  For now.  Still, I’m not willing to surrender any more rights to privacy than have already been suspended post 9-11.  Technology will catch up.

 

 

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Secrets

23 Tuesday Feb 2016

Posted by Ed Mahoney in cyber war, Geek Horror

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Apple, FBI, privacy, security

secret

I understand everyone believes there should be a balance between security and privacy.  Seems sensible.  Bill Gates came out today in favor of the FBI over Apple, but then he’s been making business decisions counter to consumer needs for decades.  I myself am so impassionately middle of the road on most topics that I wonder sometimes if I’m not actually dead.  It’s great when everyone can win a trophy but you cannot avoid the reality that there are winners and losers.  I believe the current Apple/FBI debate is one of those binary scenarios.  It’s as difficult for me as anyone else to plant my flag when I want both privacy and security.  The following example though helps clarify my position.

The 4th Amendment provides both privacy protection, and presents the guidelines for the State to void those privacies given reasonable cause.  Assuming proper due process, the State wins.  This is a nice template for balance, but it doesn’t stop there.  The 5th Amendment protects us from self incrimination.  “I plead the 5th.”  Taken together, people must allow the State entry into their home for a warranted and reasonable search of evidence of a crime.  However, people are not obligated to point out where they hid the evidence.  “Oh, it’s under the seat cushion.”

There are two centuries of legal precedent supporting these Amendments to where most of us are fairly knowledgeable of the rules, without being actual lawyers.  Let me dumb this discussion down though even further.  Let me use the term secrets instead of privacy.  We all have secrets.  Not just our banking PIN code but family history and deep, dark fantasies.  I know that there are things I would never consider telling anyone, and I’m about as transparent as a person can possibly be.  Have you read my prostate chronicles?  I might be wavering a bit from the core Apple/FBI topic since not all secrets necessarily contain criminal content, but I believe the principle points remain intact.  I’m allowed to have secrets.

I’m not even that strong of a privacy advocate.  See above on my middle of the roadness.  For example, I don’t consider privacy an inalienable right.  We were born naked in a garden, so God wasn’t that big on personal privacy either.  Clearly, there was very little personal privacy when we were living together as tribes in caves.  But like anyone else in western civilization, I’ve grown accustomed to certain privileges and I do want privacy.  Even if I didn’t, the information age ascribes so much value to data integrity that encryption is paramount to how our society and economy function.  It’s not until I substitute the word privacy with the word secret that I begin to understand where I fall on this topic. The State can try to search but I can try to hide.  Tell me I’m wrong on this.

Cryptography and cryptanalysis have been a cat and mouse game played throughout millennia.  Technology plays the lead role.  I understand that if the State can decrypt my communications, they already have legal justification to do so.  My information is only as safe as my encryption is strong.  But if they can’t decrypt my data, I don’t have to hand them the keys.  That’s like showing them the evidence is hidden under the seat cushion.  And they can’t outlaw encryption.  That’s like saying I can’t have secrets.  Who doesn’t have secrets?

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