I ate a big apple fritter and it made me sleepy so I took a nap. When I woke up, I had the realization of how Julian Assange of WikiLeaks has just pulled the most amazing "fuck you"
ever on the Pentagon, the Total Information Awareness boys, and generally all those other evil assholes we've been complaining about since Bush.
First, a couple of things you have to know- if you don't already:
:bluebox: 1.2 Gigabytes is a LOT of information but especially if it's text. If it's compressed text, even MORESO.
:bluebox: Julian Assange is an obsessive hacker. He is also extremely talented in the fields of Physics, Mathematics and Cryptography
:bluebox: There are some ways to hide information which
cannot be cracked. (I'll explain how this works a little later)
:bluebox: There are ways to conceal information in a file where the same file can be accessed,
with different passwords where each password yields
different information:redbox: The U.S. military already knows that if Assange says WikiLeaks has
X or
Y,
they do.
:redbox: The U.S. government/military has access to insane amount of computing power and resources to crack codes. Despite this, there are ways of hiding information which cannot simply be "cracked" (as I mentioned above). Outside the CIA in Langley is a sculpture which has remained undeciphered for
20 years.
:redbox: The U.S. government/military has control over how many resources
they dedicate to cracking Assange's file, alone.
:graybox: Because of the fame/infamy which WikiLeaks has already accrued, world-wide, because of their previous releases and because this encrypted file is available for anyone to download, tens of thousands of individuals are likely to download the file in advance of its decryption
ensuring wide distribution of the information, regardless of what it actually is.
Second, I'd like to take a moment to describe what a "self-working card trick" is. A self-working card trick is a specific type of card trick (or magic) which does not require any skill to pull off. These tricks do not require sleight of hand, deception or any of the other things we normally associate with magic. They don't even require a magician. Despite this, self-working card tricks can be some of the best because they are so baffling and can be pulled off with the audience watching as intently as they may- they will never see what's going on until the realize the trick is based around a formula...
not deception.
Here is the formula for the trick Assange is pulling on the U.S. Government:
The U.S. Government will dedicate resources to decrypting the file Assange has uploaded which are proportional to the amount of damage they believe the information will do, once released. The best defense against damage from the information being decrypted is to determine what the information is so that denials, defenses, etc. can be preapred in advance of general release of the information. Without knowing exactly what information is encrypted in the file, the U.S. Government will presumably allocate resources proportional to the most damaging thing they believe the encrypted information is likely to conceal.
That's right, he's turning their own level of guilt against them! Imagine this: There are two people sitting at a table, one having led an absolutely saintly life and the other an absolutely criminal one. I explain to each that before them is a box and in the box is a 3x5 index card with a list of the worst things they've ever done. I'll let them be alone with their boxes for one hour and after that hour I'll open each of the boxes and broadcast on national TV what is on each. Who's going to sweat? ;)
Now, imagine those aren't people but
governments.
;) * ;)
But it gets better/worse: It is very likely that Julian Assange did not release a single encrypted document or database but an encrypted volume, like an encrypted hard drive. A volume which shows it contains one set of files when accessed with one password, another set of files when accessed with another. There is absolutely no indication whatsoever that the first or second set of files even exist within the volume as their placement in the volume is
determined by the password itself and all "blank" space on the volume is filled with random bits.
This has been a favorite form of encryption of human rights groups doing reports on troubled areas of the world. They create one set of "books" to show the local warlord if he swings by with his AK-47-toting henchmen while the "real" reports are in the same file. Assange has already mentioned that he is fond of this type of encryption, which is not only secure but cannot by cracked even by quantum computers.
You can learn more about this method and even download software to create what I think is most-correctly identified as "steganographically hidden, nested subvolumes"
here. It redefines the word "devious".
But even that isn't the
coup-de-gras which is this:
He may have released every single document WikiLeaks currently has and the actual passwords for each of these nested subvolumes can be dispensed at the pleasure of WikiLeaks and the sources they protect. Which means this single file could be used to provide revelations for months or years to come merely by meting out the various passwords which apply to various file directories over time.
Which would make his "insurance" the single-most notorious file ever released.
Of course this is all speculation on my part. Mostly because Julian Assange is several factors more clever at this sort of thing than I am.
But that's just a taste.
PB