NSA uses supercomputers to crack Web encryption, files show...

[Indi Guy]

This discussion thread was locked as off-topic by Rhiannon12866 (a host of the Latest Breaking News forum).

Source: USAToday

U.S. and British intelligence agencies have cracked the encryption designed to provide online privacy and security, documents leaked by former intelligence analyst Edward Snowden show.

In a clandestine, decade-long effort to defeat digital scrambling, the National Security Agency, along with its British counterpart, the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), have used supercomputers to crack encryption codes through "brute force" and have inserted secret "back doors" into software with the help of technology companies, The Guardian,The New York Times and ProPublica reported Thursday.

The NSA has also maintained control over international encryption standards.

As the Times points out, encryption "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."...

Read more: http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/09/05/nsa-snowden-encryption-cracked/2772721/

[Thinkingabout]

1. Yup, for all who thought their encryption could not be broken, it is a new day, they are made and

They are broken.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

2. "and have inserted secret "back doors" into software"

There is a REASON it's called "Windows".

[Raine1967]

3. I thought the files Snowden took were encrypted.

Many of those files are in the hands of the Brits after they detained David Miranda.

This might be the snake that eats its tale.

[Snake Plissken]

4. It's just a matter of time before the internet goes the way of AOL

and private networks start poping up to avoid this bullshit.

[krispos42]

5. Seems that the primary focus should be on the back doors in the encryption software

Even if they can brute-force break SSL encryption and the like, the processing power required to do so would mean that only the most important communications could be broken; the vast majority of data transfers would be safe.

But if they have a back door, they could presumebly crack pretty much everything, and in real-time.

[longship]

6. Note: this is Web encryption, NOT public key encryption.

The latter is still very secure. And there are ways (open source) to insure that there are no back doors.

Don't believe everything you read in the fucking media. None of the people writing these stories are educated in software technology, the Internet, or security protocols. They publish what they're told and often do not verify with experts who actually know how this stuff works.

The top message encryption is still very secure and is not subject to any systematic attempts to crack it.

I have not kept up on Web encryption (https) techniques, but I do know that it is less secure because of the desire to keep throughput maximized.

But public key cryptography remains secure and is not crackable except for brute force techniques. If one uses a long enough encryption key (E.G., AES256) not even NSA can crack it.

But if -- IF is an important word here -- this reporting is true, that NSA can crack https, that would be worrying.

I am skeptical. If the claim were made that they can crack strong public key encryption, I would call bullshit.

[idwiyo]

7. k&r

[Rhiannon12866]

8. Locking, sorry, but this is a duplicate. Please continue discussion and post updates here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1014586514