FITUG e.V. Förderverein Informationstechnik und Gesellschaft

Freeh says DoS attacks require FBI access to plaintext

------- Forwarded message follows ------- Date sent: Wed, 16 Feb 2000 18:01:36 -0500 To: cryptography@c2.net From: Declan McCullagh <declan@well.com> Subject: Freeh says DoS attacks require FBI access to plaintext Copies to: cypherpunks@cyberpass.net

http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,34388,00.html

Everything Hacked but the Budget by Declan McCullagh (declan@wired.com)

1:15 p.m. 16.Feb.2000 PST Justice Department and FBI officials Wednesday told a Senate panel that last week's denial of service attacks provide ample reason to give law enforcement bigger budgets and additional powers.

[...]

Repeating a long-standing theme, he said data-scrambling encryption products posed a real danger to police, who needed access to descrambled documents or communications.

During previous appearances on Capitol Hill, Freeh has warned of drug smugglers, child pornographers, spies, and terrorists cloaking their communications with impunity.

Now he said hackers, such as the ones responsible for the denial of service attacks, could encrypt their files and make the evidence "all but worthless to us."

"Without the ability of law enforcement to get court-ordered access to plaintext, we're going to be out of business," Freeh said. "If it is unaddressed, we're not going to [be able to] work in many of these areas."

He said that the FBI is finding more and more cases -- including 53 last year -- in which suspects are using encryption products like PGP to shield their files.

[...snip...]

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