Paris attacks reignite debate over encryption,surveillance and privacy

Paris attacks reignite debate over encryption,surveillance and privacy

WASHINGTON — Friday's terrorist attacks in Paris have revived the debate over whether U.S. tech companies should be required to build "backdoors" into encrypted phones, apps and Internet sites to let law enforcement conduct surveillance of suspected terrorists.

There has been widespread speculation among law enforcement authorities and the media that the Islamic State terrorists who attacked Paris were using some kind of encryption technology to communicate. However, American and French authorities have said there is no hard evidence to back up that assumption.

Still, the possibility has been enough to renew criticism of commercial encryption, putting pressure on U.S. companies that are increasingly using the technology to thwart hackers and reassure customers that their data will be kept private.

"When individuals choose to move from open means of communication to those that are encrypted, it can cause a disruption in our ability to use lawful legal process to intercept those communications and does give us concern about being able to gather the evidence that we need to continue in our mission for the protection of the American people," Attorney General Loretta Lynch told the House Judiciary Committee Tuesday.

Lynch said the FBI and other Justice Department agencies work with Internet providers to try to find a way to enforce court orders to conduct surveillance of suspected terrorists. However, companies are increasingly employing encryption that even they cannot break to access their customers' data.

In those cases, federal agents use other types of surveillance and intelligence-gathering tools, Lynch said.

"But it (encryption) does cause us the loss of a very valuable source of information," she told the committee.

Despite strong criticism of encryption by the FBI, the White House announced in October that it would not seek legislation to force U.S. tech companies to build backdoors to let law enforcement get around the technology to access people's messages and other information.

Recommended

​Symantec warns encryption and privacy are not the same

"Encryption and privacy is not the same thing," said Nick Savvides, Symantec APAC cybersecurity strategy manager. Encryption is a privacy "enhancing tool", Savvides went on to explain, while privacy is more about handling what information is collected, how the collected information is handled, and what other data can be derived from it. The two are ...

Encryption May Hurt Surveillance, but Internet Of Things Could Open New Doors

Tech companies and privacy advocates have been in a stalemate with government officials over how encrypted communication affects the ability of federal investigators to monitor terrorists and other criminals. A new study by Harvard's Berkman Center for Internet and Society convened experts from all sides to put the issue in context. The report concluded that ...

Encryption Debate Erupts Post-Paris Attacks But Don't Expect Any Change Soon

Despite the lack of evidence, the Obama Administration has revived the encryption debate, pointing to encryption as an aid to the terrorists behind the Nov. 13 Paris attacks. Investigators from France and the U.S. have conceded that there has been no evidence backing up their conclusion that the terrorist behind the attacks relied on the ...

National Encryption Policy: Not just privacy, but also feasibility and security are at risk

Encryption is an important aspect which governs not just the communications but also the storage. When data is in motion there are some methods/ protocols which facilitate end-to-end encryption: 1. VPN 2. Remote Server Connectivity viz. RDP, SSH 3. Internet based Voice/ Messaging Communications 4. email communication 5. Communications between Wearables and their Host devices ...

暂无评论

发表评论

您的电子邮件地址不会被公开,必填项已用*标注。

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.