3 ms·
Yes, except in this case it appears that the defendant was using PGP on the device, and BB was not involved in the decryption effort at all. So either nation-st
by vox_mollis 11y ago
Yes, except in this case it appears that the defendant was using PGP on the device, and BB was not involved in the decryption effort at all. So either nation-state compromise of PGP itself (unlikely), or key compromise (more likely).
Edit: I wouldn't dismiss compromise of PGP out of hand entirely, even though it sounds crazy. Both the judge and NFI denied the defense the ability to audit the NFI's methods. I can't imagine hamstringing the defense like this if it was a simple case of "your dumbass client left his key in plaintext on the device". So there is a very slight fishy smell, here.
- rietta 11y agoThey probably brute forced his password given a copy of the private key file and didn't want to disclose that method.
- strictnein 11y agoSome of the recent leaked docs point to the NSA having problems with PGP these days, but the rumor back in mid-90s was that they successfully broke it in multiple ways, which lead the Feds to drop the case against Zimmerman. No idea of the validity of this story, but it seems plausible at least: http://kraut.co/2015/02/28/1994-when-the-nsa-loved-pgp/ http://kraut.co/2015/02/28/1994-when-the-nsa-loved-pgp/