5 ms·

>Even if you encrypt all traffic they can still spy you can't prevent physical attacks Yes but a vast swathe of attacks are stopped with good encryption. Reca

• dogma1138 8y ago
  Yes they are but it also doesn't have anything to do with this attack vector where the ISP/backbone is the point of compromise.
  • vlovich123 8y ago
    A) If the traffic going over the backbone is properly encrypted compromise of the backbone doesn't accomplish anything. B) Why can't the backbone nodes be encrypted too so that any attempt to splice the fiber would result in a break of the connection?
    • dogma1138 8y ago
      Some quantom cryptography can work but it's very iffy and expensive, there are ways to detect taps and even when a cable is bent. Simply cutting the connection because the signal was interupted won't work, not to mention that many taps can be inserted without interruption and it's not like the NSA can't figure out how to work around maintenance windows. But in this case it's not even a covert unauthorized tap it's a Chinese company ofc they'll cooperate with the Chinese government. But again encryption doesn't prevent physical attacks of this sort they can still suck all the data out and while it maybe useless unless they can decrypt it this vector has nothing to do with building a secure internet. The problem is that even if you encrypt everything state actors can simply go one step up the chain at the end of the day someone needs to be able to decrypt your packets besides you.