The NSA’s war on encryption, security, privacy and the internet itself
A story reported in partnership between the Guardian, ProPublica and the New York Times based on documents obtained by the Guardian from both the NSA and GCHQ revealing the them to have inserted vulnerabilities into commercial encryption software and working with technology companies to “covertly influence” their products.
Imaged licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution License by Electronic Frontier Foundation
From The Guardian article:
US and British intelligence agencies have successfully cracked much of the online encryption relied upon by hundreds of millions of people to protect the privacy of their personal data, online transactions and emails, according to top-secret documents revealed by former contractor Edward Snowden.
But security experts accused them of attacking the internet itself and the privacy of all users. “Cryptography forms the basis for trust online,” said Bruce Schneier, an encryption specialist and fellow at Harvard’s Berkman Center for Internet and Society. “By deliberately undermining online security in a short-sighted effort to eavesdrop, the NSA is undermining the very fabric of the internet.” Classified briefings between the agencies celebrate their success at “defeating network security and privacy”.
