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Schneiers argument is that encryption is not a viable option because key management would be a nightmare. The insurgents get the raw videostream by intercepting
by mixmax 17y ago
Schneiers argument is that encryption is not a viable option because key management would be a nightmare. The insurgents get the raw videostream by intercepting it using some sort of antenna to pick up the signal directly from the predators. Since, presumably, the military actors that need the videostream don't actually pull it out of the air themselves but get it through some kind of military channel (Internet, VPN or whatever they use) wouldn't the obvious thing to do be to encrypt the raw stream from the predators to the command post where the signal is picked up by the mlitary and distributed and send it on to whoever needs it in unencrypted form? That way the insurgents wouldn't be able to pick the signal out of the air, and everyone associated with the military who needs it would have access to it. No key management nightmare needed.
- jacquesm 17y agoRead the bit by Jeff Schroeder at the end of the comments, that pretty much deflates that whole key management argument.
- mixmax 17y agoYes, but it only applies for US troops with security clearance. As he points out guys on the ground and allies that they don't necessarily want to share crypto with can't join the game.
- jacquesm 17y agoSo, you don't want to share crypto with your allies but you do want to share your data with the enemy ?
- chollida1 17y agoPrecisly! Just as I may want to share how much money I have in the bank to a business asociate to prove I have the assest to make a deal. I'd do this by showing him/her the bank account information on screen, but I don't want to give him/her the transit, bank acount number and password to access said bank account.
- fragmede 17y agoI even don't buy that key management is too hard. The logistics of sending encryption keys around secure military networks has got to be stupid easy compared to supply chain for, say, jeeps. Giving out encryption keys is the same problem as moving jeeps around, just different logistics. Things need to go from supplier to recipient. Keys can be revoked and set to expire automatically, that's got to make things even easier. Inside the armed forces, anyway. Between "key management is hard, lets go unencrypted", and underestimation of locals, I'd much more buy into the echo chamber that said "towelheads are dumbasses who couldn't find sand in their own damn desert" much more than anything else.