Backdoors, Government Hacking and the Next Crypto Wars

The FBI claims it is going dark. Encryption technologies have finally been deployed by software companies, and critically, enabled by default, such that emails are flowing over HTTPS, and disk encryption is now frequently used. Friendly telcos, who were once a one-stop-shop for surveillance can no longer meet the needs of our government. What can the FBI and other government agencies do to preserve their spying capabilities?

Part of the answer is backdoors: The FBI is rallying political support in Washington, DC for legislation that will give it the ability to fine Internet companies unwilling to build surveillance backdoors into their products. Even though interception systems prove to be irresistible targets for nation states, the FBI and its allies want to make our networks less secure, not more.

The other solution embraced by the FBI is hacking, by the government, against its citizens. A team of FBI agents and contractors, based in Quantico, Virginia have developed (and acquired) the capabilities to hack into systems, deliver malware capable of surreptitiously enabling a computer's webcam, collecting real-time location data, as well as capturing emails, web browsing records and other documents.

While politicians are clearly scared about hacks from China, our own law enforcement agencies are clearly in the hacking business. What does this mean for the current, heated debate about cybersecurity and our ability to communicate security?

Speaker: Christopher Soghoian, ACLU