5 ms·

Could you elaborate on the point you're trying to make ?.

• mikestew 11y ago
  I think the implication might be that one doesn't ever write their own encryption. Well, duh, but there are plenty of libraries out there that have been vetted and are easy to pull into your project. I mean, plenty of us do that every day, I don't see why a criminal organization can't do the same and have a relatively secure app. What, you think they have some caricature from a mobster movie whip something up in VBScript using ROT-13?
  • colanderman 11y ago
    "Criminals" don't even need to write their own, just use some pre-existing encryption tool (e.g. PGP/GPG) with their own pre-shared private keys. By separating the transport service from the encryption tool, you eliminate the most direct route for an NSA backdoor, and change their problem from one of pressuring communication providers for keys to one of obtaining access to an individual's private keys or breaking the encryption algo. At least that should be marginally more difficult for the NSA to achieve, given that pressuring most companies to install backdoors seems to require approximately zero effort. (Yes, this requires some level of sophistication among criminals, but many criminals are part of a larger, somewhat sophisticated organization.)
• PeCaN 11y ago
  The NSA/GCHQ/etc could crack a random person's attempt at "encryption" in hours. Even if they were to use AES or some other algorithm that actually works, getting end-to-end encrypted messaging right is hard.
  • stephenr 11y ago
    Making it user friendly is typically the hard part. Has anyone ever shown PGP/GPG encrypted messages (let's say over email, but even an encrypted file is equivalent) being cracked?