How the FBI got everything it wanted (re-air) (Lock and Code S06E15)

This week on the Lock and Code podcast… For decades, digital rights activists, technologists, and cybersecurity experts have worried about what would happen if the US government secretly broke into people’s encrypted communications. The weird thing, though, is that, in 2018, it already happened...

How the FBI got everything it wanted (re-air) (Lock and Code S06E15)

This week on the Lock and Code podcast… For decades, digital rights activists, technologists, and cybersecurity experts have worried about what would happen if the US government secretly broke into people’s encrypted communications. The weird thing, though, is that, in 2018, it already happened...

Regulating DAOs

In August, the US Treasurys Office of Foreign Assets Control OFAC sanctioned the cryptocurrency platform Tornado Cash, a virtual currency "mixer" designed to make it harder to trace cryptocurrency transactions--and a worldwide favorite money-laundering platform. Americans are now forbidden from...

EFF's 30th Anniversary Livestream

It's the EFF's 30th birthday, and the organization is having a celebratory livestream today from 3:00 to 10:00 pm PDT. There are a lot of interesting discussions and things. I am having a fireside chat at 4:10 pm PDT to talk about the Crypto Wars and more. Stop by. And thank you for supporting EF...

The EARN IT Act Is a Sneak Attack on Encryption

The crypto wars are back in full swing...

Policy vs Technology

Sometime around 1993 or 1994, during the first Crypto Wars, I was part of a group of cryptography experts that went to Washington to advocate for strong encryption. Matt Blaze and Ron Rivest were with me; I don't remember who else. We met with then Massachusetts Representative Ed Markey. He didn'...

Cybersecurity for the Public Interest

The Crypto Wars have been waging off-and-on for a quarter-century. On one side is law enforcement, which wants to be able to break encryption, to access devices and communications of terrorists and criminals. On the other are almost every cryptographer and computer security expert, repeatedly...

Evaluating the GCHQ Exceptional Access Proposal

The so-called Crypto Wars have been going on for 25 years now. Basically, the FBI -- and some of their peer agencies in the UK, Australia, and elsewhere -- argue that the pervasive use of civilian encryption is hampering their ability to solve crimes and that they need the tech companies to make...

Ross Anderson on the History of the Crypto Wars in the UK

Ross Anderson gave a talk on the history of the Crypto Wars in the UK. I am intimately familiar with the US story, but didn't know as much about Britain's verson. Hour-long video. Summary...

Microsoft Schannel Vulnerable to FREAK

Microsoft today issued an advisory warning Windows users that Secure Channel, or Schannel, the Windows implementation of SSL/TLS, is vulnerable to the FREAK attack. Disclosed this week, FREAK CVE-2015-1637 is the latest big Internet bug. It affects a number of SSL clients, including OpenSSL, and...