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

["Matthijs R. Koot" <[e-mail]>]

Hi Stephen,

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

Slides (38MB .pdf):
http://www1.icsi.berkeley.edu/~nweaver/enigma_weaver.key.pdf

Paper: does not exist (
https://twitter.com/ncweaver/status/693516094003281920 ).

Video (20 min): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqnKdGnzoh0

Regards,
Matthijs


>
> 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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