Re: [perpass] Cops hate encryption but the NSA loves it when you use PGP

Anyone got a link to Nick's slides/paper?

S.

On 30/01/16 16:51, Dave Crocker wrote:
> Cops hate encryption but the NSA loves it when you use PGP
> It lights you up like a Vegas casino, says compsci boffin
> 
> By Iain Thomson
> Jan 27 2016
> <http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/01/27/nsa_loves_it_when_you_use_pgp/>
> 
> Although the cops and Feds wont stop banging on and on about encryption
> – the spies have a different take on the use of crypto.
> 
> To be brutally blunt, they love it. Why? Because using detectable
> encryption technology like PGP, Tor, VPNs and so on, lights you up on
> the intelligence agencies' dashboards. Agents and analysts don't even
> have to see the contents of the communications – the metadata is enough
> for g-men to start making your life difficult.
> 
> "To be honest, the spooks love PGP," Nicholas Weaver, a researcher at
> the International Computer Science Institute, told the Usenix Enigma
> conference in San Francisco on Wednesdy. "It's really chatty and it
> gives them a lot of metadata and communication records. PGP is the NSA's
> friend."
> 
> Weaver, who has spent much of the last decade investigating NSA
> techniques, said that all PGP traffic, including who sent it and to
> whom, is automatically stored and backed up onto tape. This can then be
> searched as needed when matched with other surveillance data.
> 
> Given that the NSA has taps on almost all of the internet's major trunk
> routes, the PGP records can be incredibly useful. It's a simple matter
> to build a script that can identify one PGP user and then track all
> their contacts to build a journal of their activities.
> 
> Even better is the Mujahedeen Secrets encryption system, which was
> released by the Global Islamic Media Front to allow Al Qaeda supporters
> to communicate in private. Weaver said that not only was it even harder
> to use than PGP, but it was a boon for metadata – since almost anyone
> using it identified themselves as a potential terrorist.
> 
> "It's brilliant!" enthused Weaver. "Whoever it was at the NSA or GCHQ
> who invented it give them a big Christmas bonus.”
> 
> <snip>
> 
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