CRYPTO WARS

DailyPost 537

CRYPTO WARS

If we ever thought that cyber security is all about technology & hackers capability to breach, it is a total misconception. The real villain of piece came to light after decades, courtesy Edward Snowden& remained so since then. It’s the National Security Agency, NSA, followed by the FBI. They rule the backdoors of the crypto world. That has remained so, since the early 1990s & continues to remain so, to this day, however much US wants us to believe to the contrary.

For around 20 years NSA had successfully managed to keep cryptography software out of the mainstream IT. It classified it as a munition& played a pivotal role in restricting its exports. Strong cryptography could not be sold outside of US, and US hardware & software companies used weak meaning breakable cryptography, in domestic & international products. This was so because it was easier than maintaining two versions. The game would get known, if there were two products. Applied Cryptography authored by Bruce Schneier, brought this out to the world.

The Clinton administration came up with a solution; infamously known as the Clipper Chip. Encryption algorithm was strong but NSA & FBI has a backdoor. Someone who knew the special key could get to the plain text. This was marketed as ”key escrow,” billed as a compromise. It didn’t work as successfully &800 encryption products from 35 countries, hit the market.

The US govt. didn’t stop it’s access manipulation, it became public knowledge, with tools like PRISM etc. US companies were no longer trusted. Their cloud providers became known as porous. They lost business. Germany was up in arms, German courts taking them to task. Additional contractual liabilities, pertaining to third party access was added. Now the world is ready to pay for privacy, $0.60 per $15 item as per a 2007 research. Versions of search software, DuckDuckGo, Wickr, though small are hitting the market. Crypto War is still raging.

IN THE DATA AGE, CRYPTO WARS WOULD DECIDE THE FATE OF MANKIND.

Sanjay Sahay

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