Post on 02-Jan-2016
Wiretapping Today
Federal and state law enforcement
Businesses Private Detectives Political Candidates ......
Standard Phones
Easily tapped if signal travels by microwave or satellite
Government has secured phones
Legal Mandates
1937 - Supreme Court rules that wiretapping is illegal
1968 - Congress explicitly allowed it by law enforcement agencies needs court order
Electronic Communications Privacy Act include new technologies
Cryptography - Making and breaking of ciphers
Translation of the original message into a new incomprehensible one by a mathematical algorithm using a specific KEY
Plaintext - a message or data Ciphertext - encrypted text Decryption - decipher back to
plaintext
Encryption Includes:
Coding scheme or cryptographic algorithm
Specific sequence of characters key used by the algorithm
Variations - Symmetric
Use the same key to encrypt and decrypt (secret key)
Requires a more secure system to send the key than the system itself
Variation - Asymmetric
Use a key (public key) to encrypt a message
Another (private key) to decrypt it
Requires both keys
Industrial Espionage
Knowledge of a company’s cost and price structure
Market research Strategic plans Order and customer lists Insider information
Criminals
Cryptography allows criminals to keep their identities a secret
Provides security to law breakers
Allows anonymity Don’t use systems that leave
trails
Reliability
The longer the key has remained unbroken, the stronger it is likely to be
The longer the key is in use, the more likely someone will be able to discover it larger amount of info will be
compromised change key frequently
Algorithms available
DES - Data Encryption Standard Developed by IBM in the 1970’s Adopted as a Federal Information
Processing Standard Uses a 56 bit key
Has been broken To extend life - extend key to 128 bits
or triple DES
RSA algorithm
Used in public key cryptography
Patented in US Based on multiplication of
large prime numbers
New Controversies
1991 - Senate Bill - Government wants to be able to intercept any message and be able to decode it as well - not passed
FBI and wiretapping - Telephony bills
FBI and Clipper Chip
Benefits of Government Intervention
Aid law enforcement in protecting us from criminals and terrorists
Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act 1994 to and from Requires that
telecommunications equipment be designed so govt. can: intercept all wire and electronic
communic. Intercept comms from mobile users Obtain call-identifying info
phone numbers Have info transmitted to a specific
location Government will help foot the bill
Arguments for...
Protection from terrorists and criminals FBI wants no new privileges BUT
Necessity has not been justified Expense and other problems
outweigh the benefits There has never been a guarantee of
interception of private messages before
NEED?
Wiretaps are less useful than informants, witnesses, etc.
BUT 90% of terrorist cases used wiretaps
Industry claims full compliance with FBI BUT
Continued cooperation is not guaranteed
COST?
A lot more than government is giving
Will save money in fines, forfeitures, prevented
economic loss Used only in a subset of
investigations Could use the money on other
technologies
Innovation and global competitiveness
Stifle or delay new technologies economic costs prevent new technologies’
implementation Damage to US competitiveness
in global markets due to reduced security and privacy
Protection from Dossier Society
Digital cash made possible by public key encryption
Secure financial transactions without a credit card or checking account number
E-Cash
No link between payer and recipient Convenience of credit card Anonymity of cash Use on Internet for ordinary shopping Can transfer credentials Can prevent duplicate cash files Back up at home in case card is lost or
stolen
E-Cash continued
Not easy to form a consumer profile or dossier
Prevent fraud and forgery Protect privacy from
mailing lists More control over personal
information
History of Encryption
Secret - NSA National Security Agency
can do anything has powerful computers - break
ciphers and create ciphers monitors all communications
between US and other countries