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U.S. officials have been insisting to tech platforms that overly strong encryption is a threat to public safety and that "back doors" must be provided for law enforcement to bypass security, all in the name of fighting crime.

Meanwhile, U.S. officials have also been claiming that China-based tech company Huawei can use secret security bypasses that are intended for law enforcement use only in order to access data that could be used by the Chinese government for surveillance purposes.

In summation: The same U.S. government that wants tech companies and telecoms to create secret software doors that would allow it to snoop on our private communications and data is also worried that other governments will be able to use those same back doors to do the same thing. This is what tech privacy experts have been warning U.S. officials (and U.K. officials and Australian officials) all along: Any back door that allows law enforcement to circumvent user privacy protections will ultimately be used by people with bad intentions.

The context here is a Wall Street Journal report that reveals U.S. officials have been quietly telling allies that Huawei can secretly access data from its phone networks through taps that the company built into the hardware it sells to cellphone carriers. Laws mandate that Huawei (and other telecom companies) install these "interception interfaces" into their equipment, but only authorized law enforcement officials are supposed to have access. Even Huawei itself is not supposed to be able to gain access without the permission of the phone carriers. But U.S. officials are insistent that Huawei has maintained secret access to these taps since at least 2009.

Huawei says these claims are not true and that these hardware taps can only be accessed by "certified personnel of the network operators." The company also insists it is not surveilling data and passing it along to the Chinese government.

The story leans heavily on U.S. claims from secret intelligence that has recently been declassified, but it's not exactly proof of the claims.

On a surface level, this is about the global tech market and the competition between China and the United States. But dig deeper and you can see the relevance to our encryption fight.

The FBI and Department of Justice insist that tech companies need to be adding similar, virtual back doors in our communication tools, phones, and apps in the name of fighting crime and terrorism. People like FBI Director Christopher Wray and Attorney General William Barr are willing to discuss encryption back doors only in terms of how it helps the U.S. government. But this Wall Street Journal report makes it clear that the U.S. government is abundantly aware that any access point (real or virtual) to look at private data is a point of vulnerability.

If this intelligence is true, it means that any government-mandated encryption bypass is potentially abusable and the U.S. should not be demanding tech companies make them, lest the Chinese government (or Saudi government, or Russian government, or United Arab Emirates, or identity thieves with hacking skills) get their hands on whatever mechanism created for law enforcement use only.

If the intelligence is not true, it nevertheless makes it clear that the United States understands that back doors create huge vulnerabilities. Government officials know full well that the Justice Department's demands are unreasonable and should be shut down, and lawmakers like Sen. Lindsey Graham (RS.C.) should not be proposing bills to force companies to implement encryption back doors.

But then, perhaps I should simply stop treating the Justice Department and Congress as though they're making these arguments in good faith. You see, yesterday, the Washington Post published a very different story about encryption and data privacy. It turns out that, for decades, the CIA and German intelligence owned and secretly operated an encryption company named Crypto AG. They sold compromised encryption technology to other countries, then secretly spied on them. The Washington Post reports that

they monitored Iran's mullahs during the 1979 hostage crisis, fed intelligence about Argentina's military to Britain during the Falklands War, tracked the assassination campaigns of South American dictators and caught Libyan officials congratulating themselves on the 1986 bombing of a Berlin disco.

Germany left the partnership in the 1990s, fearing exposure. So the CIA ran the company until 2018 when it liquidated Crypto AG and sold it off to two companies, one of whom apparently had no idea about its secret background.

We should be wary of the U.S. government doubling down on its efforts to compromise encryption, especially now that Crypto AG is not of use to the CIA. We know full well those back doors are going to be used for a lot more than trying to track down alleged pedophiles, and the federal government knows that, too.

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CIA Encryption Meddling and Chinese Espionage Allegations Make It Clear: We All Need Strong Data Protection - Reason

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Apple has reopened a privacy battle with the FBI after refusing to unlock the iPhones of the Saudi pilot who opened fire at Naval Air Station Pensacola Buzz60

NEW YORK Inside a steel-encased vault in lower Manhattan, investigators bombard an Apple iPhone 7 with ajumble of numerical codes generated by nearby computers.

The grinding exercise has continued for the past 21 months with a singular aim: Crack the phone's passcode, so police can extract potentialevidence in an aging attempted murder investigation.

Despite the formidable resources ofa $10 million cyberlaboperated by the Manhattan District Attorneys Office including costly assistance provided by privatesleuths the phone has won.

Last month, Attorney General William Barr revived the titanic struggle betweenlaw enforcement and Big Techwhen he disclosedthat the FBI couldn'tunlock two iPhones used by a Saudi officer who opened fireat a Navy base in Florida in December.

The breadth of the ground war wagedagainst encrypted phones, tablets and other devices seized in criminal inquiries is perhaps best appreciated withinthe securedoors of this Manhattanlaboratory.

Steven Moran, director of the High Technology Analysis Unit at the Manhattan District Attorneys Office, describes how investigators try to crack encrypted smartphones in a special steel-encased vault. It was built to block outside radio frequencies, preventing suspects from remotely erasing their devices.(Photo: Kevin Johnson, USA TODAY)

More than 8,000 devices have poured into the facility since 2014.Each year, more of them are locked, rising from 24% in 2014 to 64%last year. For Apple devices, it's gone from 60% to 82%.

Nearly 2,500 of the locked devices remain inaccessible to investigators, hindering investigations into child exploitation, financial fraud, theft, violence and other crimes.

The numbers illustrate afrustration shared by law enforcement agencies across the country.

"I don't think there is an awareness of the scope of the problem," Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance said.

Duffie Stone, president of the National District Attorneys Association, describedthe challenge as a technological tidal wave overwhelming agencies across the country, particularly smaller oneswithout Manhattan's considerable resources.

It's been difficult to measurehow much of a problem locked devices are for law enforcement. There is no national data repository tracking how often investigators areblockedby phones "going dark," as they say.

In 2018, the FBI estimated federal authorities recovered nearly 8,000 locked phones for analysis,butthe bureau acknowledged that figure was overstated.The FBI has not publicly updated the data since, leaving Vance as law enforcements most vocal authority in the struggle between law enforcement and privacy interests.

Tech giant Apple is law enforcement's favorite target because of its commercial popularity and its efforts to bolster user privacy.In the past six years, law enforcement officials said, Apple and other companies have made their devices virtually warrant-proofby enabling encryption by default and moving fromfour-digit passcodes to six.

Law enforcement vs. consumer privacy: Should Apple help DOJ unlock terrorist's iPhones?

"We have always maintained there is no such thing as a backdoor just for the good guys," Apple said in a statement last month, responding to Barr's claims that the company had not helped unlock the two iPhones recovered from the Pensacola shooter.

"Today, law enforcement has access to more data than ever before in history, so Americans do not have to choose between weakening encryption and solving investigations," Apple said. "We feel stronglyencryption is vital to protecting our country and our users' data."

"We might need more shelving," says Steven Moran, director of the High Technology Analysis Unit. Inside the unit's vault, computers bombard seized smartphones with codes to crack encryptions and enable investigators to access their data.(Photo: Kevin Johnson, USA TODAY)

It looks like a bomb shelter. In a sense, it is.

Just off the main corridor of the Manhattan cyberlaboratory, protected by a heavy steel door, is a small chamber where some of the lab's most consequential work is carried out in isolation.

About 100 locked cellphones,seized in various criminal investigations, arestacked neatly on two shelves. Nearby,computerssilently batter the devices with spurts of numerals as they attempt toguess thepasscodes.

Only when the lights are offis the workvisible, in flashes of blinking lights.

Success can come in minutes, hours, days ormonths. Or not at all.

Of the 1,035 devices that were locked on arrival at the lab last year, 405 remain inaccessible, according to lab records. The year before, 666 of the 1,047 locked phones could not be opened.

New batches of phones are moved into the chamber like unbaked cookies. Others are moved out before they're done.

"We might need more shelving," said Steven Moran, director of the High Technology Analysis Unit.

The room's heavy drape of security, Moran said, is not for show. It was built to block outside radio frequencies, preventingsuspects from remotely erasing their devices before examiners can break the locks.

"It is a real concern," Moran said, adding that some suspects released on bond have sought to do just that.

In particularlyurgent cases, or when devices prove especially resistant, they are hand-delivered to private contractors who subject the phones tonew types of hacking.

From 2014 to 2019, Vance said,his office paid those contractors $1.5 million for software and assistance.

New York District Attorney Cyrus Vance says there's a lack of awareness about the frustrations law enforcement faces over unaccessible cellphone data.(Photo: ANGELA WEISS, AFP via Getty Images)

Their help has become critical not only in Manhattan but in places such as South Carolina's 14th Judicial Circuit, a five-county area in the state's low countrywhere Duffie Stone is the prosecutor.

"The use of technology by criminals is probably the biggest change in the criminal justice system," Stone said. "We are confronting this kind oftechnology, and the challenge of penetrating it, in virtually every case we are prosecuting."

Stone credits Vance with helping other prosecutors take on the new investigative burdens.

"The value of digital evidence is not limited to proving a defendant's guilt," Vance told a Senate panel in December. "In some instances, evidence recovered from devices mitigates the culpability of an accused or exonerates a defendant entirely."

In 2018, Vance said, an internal survey revealed 17 casesin which his office "reduced or dismissed charges because of evidence recovered from a smartphone."

Ordinarily, few would confuse William Barr with Cyrus Vance.

As President Donald Trump's attorney general, Barr has shielded his boss from Vance's subpoenas and document requests. Their fight over the president's tax records is before the Supreme Court.

On the issue of encryption, they have found common ground.

Last month, Barr rekindled a long-standing dispute between the Justice Department and Apple when he accused the company of failing to provide "substantive assistance" in unlocking two iPhones used by the Saudi attacker who killed three people atNaval Air Station Pensacola in December.

Airman Mohammed Hathaim, Ensign Joshua Watson and Airman Apprentice Cameron Walters were killed in the shooting at Naval Air Station Pensacola. USA TODAY

One of the devices was damaged by a bullet, possibly fired by the gunman in an attempt to destroy anyevidence it contained.

The attorney general said investigators rebuilt both phones, but they had not been able to bypass the passcodes to gain access to the data.

"This situation perfectly illustrates why itis critical that investigators be able to get access to digital evidence once they have obtained a court order based on probable cause," Barr said.

Apple rejected Barr's rebuke, saying it responded quickly to investigators' many requests. The company said itlearned only a week earlier that the Justice Department needed help unlocking the phones.

Barr's criticismmirrored a standoff between the FBI and Apple over an iPhone recovered after a mass shooting in San Bernardino, California, that left 14 people dead in 2015.

In that case, the FBI went to federal court todemand Apple assist investigators in accessing the device recovered from terrorist Syed Farook, who was killed withhis wife, Tashfeen Malik, in a shootout with authorities after the attack.

The FBI's effort was led by then-director James Comey, whomaintained the bureau wanted accessonly in that case. Apple and other tech companies feared granting access to Farook's phone would ultimately require them to build so-called backdoors that would allowlaw enforcement around the country to access their devices.

Nothing to see here: FBI blacks out most details on hack of terrorist's iPhone

Law enforcement officers search for suspects in a mass shooting Dec. 2, 2015, in San Bernardino, Calif.(Photo: Patrick T. Fallon, AFP via Getty Images)

The FBI dropped its challenge after it secured the assistance of an outside contractor that bypassed the iPhone's passcode.

Vance, who supported Comey's efforts, said theSan Bernardino caseraised public awareness of the problem,but it"deflated because there was mutual finger-pointing."

If Barr were to challengeApple again, Vance said, he probably would support it, thoughthe district attorney said courts won't offer a long-term solution.

"Nothing really has changed" since San Bernardino,Vance said.

"Companies are not going to redesign their devices to open for search warrants," he said. "The only way to move forward is the threat of federal legislation."

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The code breakers: This vault is the epicenter in law enforcement's battle to unlock encrypted smartphones - USA TODAY

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Applying encryption adds a level of security to the data that can help prevent the file contents from being understood by any unauthorized person who gets hold of it. Even if the data is accessed, it requires decryption to extract its meaning.

When more than one key is involved in the process, it's also possible to use to authenticate the sender. (Read Expert Feedback: What Data Encryption Advancements Should Businesses Be Aware Of?)

Encryption is the process of using an algorithm to transform information to make it unreadable for unauthorized users. Once the information is encoded, it requires decryption to be understood. (Read Encryption Just Isn't Enough: 3 Critical Truths About Data Security.)

Join nearly 200,000 subscribers who receive actionable tech insights from Techopedia.

Decryption is the process of transforming data that has been rendered unreadable through encryption back to its unencrypted form.

The encoded data reverts back to its original form, whether it contains texts or images, so that it makes sense to the human reader and/or the computer system. This process may be automated or be conducted manually.

Typically, there is a form of key involved. (Read 10 Best Practices for Encryption Key Management and Data Security.)

This eBook makes it easier than ever to get everything out of this powerful data tool. Free offer expires 2/18/2020.

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A Scytale was what ancient Greeks used to make a simple transposition cipher. All it took was a strip of leather on which the letters were written and cylinder around which to wrap it. The sensitive data that was protected this way was likely centered around battle strategies. (Read Encryption Backdoors: The Achilles Heel to Cybersecurity?)

The encryption is the result of the letters being taken out of the order necessary to read and make sense of the message when they are unwrapped. In this case, the right cylinder functions as the key because it is what would get the letters properly aligned once the strip was wrapped once again.

The cylinder would be what is called a pre-shared key (PSK) in cryptography, that is a secret key that was shared ahead of the secret message being sent on it. Its letting the other party know what code the hidden message will be in. (Read Cryptography: Understanding Its Not-So-Secret Importance to Your Business.)

The Scytale method of encryption is the first one mentioned in A Brief History of Cryptological Systems, an instructive and entertaining read about strategies to prevent unauthorized people from reading secret message.

What may be the most famous stone in the world is housed in the British Museum. The museumss blog on the historic Rosetta Stone explains that Napoleons army found it in the Nile delta town for which it is named in 1799. At that time, no one had the capability to read hieroglyphs. It was a code with no key.

That is until scholars studied the Rosetta Stone. It opened the way to meaning through two components. One was that the same message was carved into in three languages, including Ancient Greek, which scholars could read.

The other was an identifiable cartouche that indicated which symbols stood for the name of the king Ptolemy.That was the basis of finding which of the 53 lines of Ancient Greek corresponded to the 14 lines of hieroglyphics and figure out the meaning of individual symbols.

It then took a couple of scholars 20 years to work it all out.

While the Rosetta Stone did function effectively as a decryption key, we need something easier to work with than a 1,680 pound rock for our everyday needs. The keys used in computer encryption are based on algorithms which scramble the plaintext data to render it into apparently random gibberish.

Applying the decryption key will put it back into understandable plaintext. There are different possible setups with single or double sets of keys.

Symmetric key encryption is based on algorithms that apply the same keys for both encryption and decryption. Its the same concept that worked for the Scytale in which the same size cylinder is used both to set the code and to rewrap the strips to make sense of the apparently random letters.

The same key that rendered the plaintext into ciphertext will turn the ciphertext back into plaintext In his blog, Panayotis Vryonis offers the analogy of locking something away in a box. The same key used to remove the contents from view is used to unlock the box and reveal them.

This is also sometimes called public key encryption. The name is a bit misleading because the asymmetry actually depends on having both a public and a private key. The public key is used to encrypt the message that is decrypted with the private key.

You can also encrypt data with the private key and have the receiver decrypted with the public key. The point is just that different keys are used for two functions.

Vryonis once again offers an image of a locked box to understand the concept: This lock has three states: A (locked), B (unlocked) and C (locked). And it has two separate (yes, two) keys. The first one can only turn clockwise (from A to B to C) and the second one can only turn anticlockwise (from C to B to A).

He names the one who locks it Anna, and she has an exclusive on one key the private key. The second key is the public one, which is copied and distributed.

So. Anna has her private key that can turn from A to B to C. And everyone else has her public-key that can turn from C to B to A. This opens up the possibility of locking up what you dont have the power to unlock.

"First of all, imagine you want to send Anna a very personal document. You put the document in the box and use a copy of her public-key to lock it. Remember, Annas public-key only turns anticlockwise, so you turn it to position A. Now the box is locked. The only key that can turn from A to B is Annas private key, the one shes kept for herself."

Anyone with the public key can make sure the box is locked, and only the person in possession of the private key can unlock it. Back to the world of algorithms, only the private key can decrypt what was encrypted by the public key. But it also has the possibility of allowing the public key to decrypt what was decrypt what was encrypted with the private key.

That opens up the possibility of attaching digital signatures, which Vryonis explains as follows:

"Someone delivers me this box and he says its from Anna. I dont believe him, but I pick Annas public-key from the drawer where I keep all the public-keys of my friends, and try it. I turn right, nothing. I turn left and the box opens! Hmm, I think. This can only mean one thing: the box was locked using Annas private key, the one that only she has.

In that scenario, the lock that is only possible from the private key guarantees that the sender is the one represented, which is the function of the digital signature. It would be like an unbroken seal on a letter formed by the persons signet ring used in the days of quill pens.

Accordingly, the asymmetric key offers more possible functions than the symmetric key system. Anyone with the public key can secure their data transmission to be decrypted only by the one in possession of the private key.

Plus anyone who receives data encrypted by the private key can trust the source. That preserves the integrity of the files and the validation of origin for digital communication, both of which are essential for functional and secure digital interactions.

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Encryption Vs. Decryption: What's the Difference? - Techopedia

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The report is an all-inclusive research study of the Encryption Software Market taking under consideration the expansion factors, recent trends, developments, opportunities, and competitive landscape. The market analysts and researchers have done extensive analysis of the global Encryption Software market with the help of research methodologies such as PESTLE and Porters Five Forces analysis. They have provided accurate and reliable market data and useful recommendations with an aim to help the players gain an insight into the overall present and future market scenario. The report comprises in-depth study of the potential segments including product type, application, and user and their contribution to the general market size.

Global Encryption Software Market was valued at USD 3.32 billion in 2016 and is projected to reach USD 30.54 billion by 2025, growing at a CAGR of 27.96% from 2017 to 2025.

The Encryption Software market report provides detailed information on key factors, Opportunities, Challenges, industry trends and their impact on the market. The market report Encryption Software also includes company data and its operation. This report also contains information about the pricing strategy, brand strategy and target customer of the Encryption Software market.

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The competitive analysis serves as a bridge between manufacturers and other participants that are available on the Encryption Software Market. The report includes a comparative study of Top market players with company profiles of competitive companies, Encryption Software Market product innovations and cost structure, production sites and processes, sales details of past years and technologies used by them. The Encryption Software Market report also explains the main strategies of competitors, their SWOT analysis and how the competition will react to changes in marketing techniques. In this report, the best market research techniques were used to provide the latest knowledge about Encryption Software Market to competitors in the market.

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The report provides important insights into the various market segments presented to simplify the assessment of the global Encryption Software Market. These market segments are based on several relevant factors, including Encryption Software Market product type or services, end users or applications and regions. The report also includes a detailed analysis of the regional potential of the Encryption Software Market, which includes the difference between production values and demand volumes, as well as the presence of market participants and the growth of each Region over the given forecast period

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Encryption Software Market: Regional Analysis :

As part of regional analysis, important regions such as North America, Europe, the MEA, Latin America, and Asia Pacific have been studied. The regional Encryption Software markets are analyzed based on share, growth rate, size, production, consumption, revenue, sales, and other crucial factors. The report also provides country-level analysis of the Encryption Software industry.

Table of Contents

Introduction: The report starts off with an executive summary, including top highlights of the research study on the Encryption Software industry.

Market Segmentation: This section provides detailed analysis of type and application segments of the Encryption Software industry and shows the progress of each segment with the help of easy-to-understand statistics and graphical presentations.

Regional Analysis: All major regions and countries are covered in the report on the Encryption Software industry.

Market Dynamics: The report offers deep insights into the dynamics of the Encryption Software industry, including challenges, restraints, trends, opportunities, and drivers.

Competition: Here, the report provides company profiling of leading players competing in the Encryption Software industry.

Forecasts: This section is filled with global and regional forecasts, CAGR and size estimations for the Encryption Software industry and its segments, and production, revenue, consumption, sales, and other forecasts.

Recommendations: The authors of the report have provided practical suggestions and reliable recommendations to help players to achieve a position of strength in the Encryption Software industry.

Research Methodology: The report provides clear information on the research approach, tools, and methodology and data sources used for the research study on the Encryption Software industry.

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The report contains statistical analyses of the current and future Status of the global Encryption Software Market with a forecast to 2026.The report contains detailed information on manufacturers, Encryption Software Market raw material suppliers and buyers with their trade outlook for 2020-2026.The report informs you about the most important drivers, technologies and Trends that will shape the global Encryption Software Market in the near future.The report added an exclusive market segmentation, broken down by Product Type, Encryption Software Market end user and Region.The strategic perspectives on Encryption Software Market Dynamics, current production process and applications.

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TAGS: Encryption Software Market Size, Encryption Software Market Growth, Encryption Software Market Forecast, Encryption Software Market Analysis, Encryption Software Market Trends, Encryption Software Market

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Encryption Software Market Growth by Top Companies, Trends by Types and Application, Forecast to 2026 - News Parents

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