5 ms·

slightly off-topic, but could someone verify a memory I have regarding the shutdown of TrueCrypt? I vaguely remember after it was announced that the project wa

slightly off-topic, but could someone verify a memory I have regarding the shutdown of TrueCrypt? I vaguely remember after it was announced that the project was disbanded, that there was one single commit from the authors whose only change was a textual replacement of "United States" with "USA" everywhere it appeared. Coming from the highly anonymous and secretive TrueCrypt group, this was interpreted in this most scandalous possible way. I.e. the US govt was somehow strongarming them. I'm not claiming that part is true, I'm just curious if my memory is correct about the whole incident.

Vadoff 7y ago
https://medium.com/asecuritysite-when-bob-met-alice/the-fall-of-truecrypt-and-rise-of-veracrypt-44f910ed5162 https://medium.com/asecuritysite-when-bob-met-alice/the-fall...
- acqq 7y ago
  No need to read the blog post, the "end" page is still reachable: http://truecrypt.sourceforge.net/ http://truecrypt.sourceforge.net/ and Wikipedia article is accurate: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TrueCrypt https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TrueCrypt
CiPHPerCoder 7y ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Le_Roux#TrueCrypt_release_and_controversy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Le_Roux#TrueCrypt_release... https://www.wired.com/story/mastermind-excerpt/ https://www.wired.com/story/mastermind-excerpt/ https://magazine.atavist.com/the-mastermind https://magazine.atavist.com/the-mastermind It's pretty likely that Paul Le Roux was behind TrueCrypt.
- acqq 7y ago
  > It's pretty likely that Paul Le Roux was behind TrueCrypt. He worked on E4M, but I can't imagine that he did TrueCrypt, given the stuff he did at these (post-E4M) times. It simply doesn't fit. Also, from Wikipedia link: "Le Roux himself has denied developing TrueCrypt in a court hearing in March 2016, in which he also confirmed he had written E4M." Also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TrueCrypt#E4M_and_SecurStar_dispute https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TrueCrypt#E4M_and_SecurStar_di... Also: https://www.securstar.com/en/about-us.html https://www.securstar.com/en/about-us.html Also: https://groups.google.com/forum/?_escaped_fragment_=topic/alt.security.scramdisk/HYa8Wb_4acs https://groups.google.com/forum/?_escaped_fragment_=topic/al... And: https://groups.google.com/forum/?hl=en&_escaped_fragment_=msg/alt.security.scramdisk/AGZV0zWXDiE/qFNxCJJHq3oJ https://groups.google.com/forum/?hl=en&_escaped_fragment_=ms...
- darkhorn 7y ago
  Satoshi Nakamoto Could Be Criminal Mastermind Paul Le Roux https://news.bitcoin.com/satoshi-nakamoto-could-be-criminal-mastermind-paul-le-roux/ https://news.bitcoin.com/satoshi-nakamoto-could-be-criminal-...
  - baby 7y ago
    It doesn’t fit with any of his skills. People think “oh, he knows cryptography, so he Must be a good candidate to be satoshi”. It’s not that simple, the perfect candidate is someone versed in the ecash literature as well as someone who can write an academic paper (even if lacking, the form is there).
- na85 7y ago
  Wow that Wikipedia article reads like a synopsis of a Bond movie.
  - nyolfen 7y ago
    you do yourself a disservice if you don't read the atavist piece
    - giancarlostoro 7y ago
      Yes that is the Bond movie script with all the juicy bits.
- mikorym 7y ago
  It's interesting that he is from Zimbabwe (then Rhodesia). Of course, his name gives it away (that's why I checked). But what I wanted to say was something else. > he [liked] the video game Wing Commander [1] Somewhere between 1990 and 1995 I recall that Windows PCs in South Africa shipped with a games CD. You would get Ultima (immediately banned by your parents), Wing Commander, Sea Wolf and other games and this would be your staple for a while. When Warcraft 2 (or it may have been Starcraft) came out I think it cost about R 350 (USD 90 in 1995) so you would need to be more picky in the games you could buy than today. One should mention the rand's historic dissonance with regard to the exchange rate and PPP, but whatever. I remember buying some shitty Disney game for the same amount and regretting it instantly (I played Warcraft 2 instead). It was not until 1999 that I saw games "in bulk" with Tiberian Sun, ReVolt and a multitude of other games being shared on DC. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Le_Roux https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Le_Roux, edited for sensational language. Note that he had the console version, but I am not sure which console that would be. The PS1 was the first major console in South Africa (apart from "video games", i.e. famicon or NES clones) but I may stand corrected.
  - 6645throwaway 7y ago
    I’m reading the Atavist piece and noticed that he was extremely racist towards Asians and yet two of his ex-wives were Asian. I wonder how he reconciled that. I feel really bad for his kids. When I studying in Asia, I met a few mixed-race kids that had racist expat parents and they often had major identity issues. For those that didn’t stay in the expat bubble, they would shun their “Western side” and try to completely blend in with the locals.
    - mikorym 7y ago
      Well, where I come from, the racist people have a tendency to do that, so they themselves have identity issues.
- eternalny1 7y ago
  Wow. That Wikipedia entry on Le Roux is wild. I never knew any of that. Something straight of a complex spy thriller.
RcouF1uZ4gsC 7y ago
From the TrueCrypt shutdown page: http://truecrypt.sourceforge.net/ http://truecrypt.sourceforge.net/ > WARNING: Using TrueCrypt is not secure as it may contain unfixed security issues Which if you are into conspiracy theories can be rendered as Using TrueCrypt is Not Secure As => using TrueCrypt is NSA

Vadoff 7y ago

https://medium.com/asecuritysite-when-bob-met-alice/the-fall-of-truecrypt-and-rise-of-veracrypt-44f910ed5162 https://medium.com/asecuritysite-when-bob-met-alice/the-fall...

acqq 7y ago
No need to read the blog post, the "end" page is still reachable: http://truecrypt.sourceforge.net/ http://truecrypt.sourceforge.net/ and Wikipedia article is accurate: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TrueCrypt https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TrueCrypt

CiPHPerCoder 7y ago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Le_Roux#TrueCrypt_release_and_controversy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Le_Roux#TrueCrypt_release... https://www.wired.com/story/mastermind-excerpt/ https://www.wired.com/story/mastermind-excerpt/ https://magazine.atavist.com/the-mastermind https://magazine.atavist.com/the-mastermind It's pretty likely that Paul Le Roux was behind TrueCrypt.

acqq 7y ago
> It's pretty likely that Paul Le Roux was behind TrueCrypt. He worked on E4M, but I can't imagine that he did TrueCrypt, given the stuff he did at these (post-E4M) times. It simply doesn't fit. Also, from Wikipedia link: "Le Roux himself has denied developing TrueCrypt in a court hearing in March 2016, in which he also confirmed he had written E4M." Also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TrueCrypt#E4M_and_SecurStar_dispute https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TrueCrypt#E4M_and_SecurStar_di... Also: https://www.securstar.com/en/about-us.html https://www.securstar.com/en/about-us.html Also: https://groups.google.com/forum/?_escaped_fragment_=topic/alt.security.scramdisk/HYa8Wb_4acs https://groups.google.com/forum/?_escaped_fragment_=topic/al... And: https://groups.google.com/forum/?hl=en&_escaped_fragment_=msg/alt.security.scramdisk/AGZV0zWXDiE/qFNxCJJHq3oJ https://groups.google.com/forum/?hl=en&_escaped_fragment_=ms...
darkhorn 7y ago
Satoshi Nakamoto Could Be Criminal Mastermind Paul Le Roux https://news.bitcoin.com/satoshi-nakamoto-could-be-criminal-mastermind-paul-le-roux/ https://news.bitcoin.com/satoshi-nakamoto-could-be-criminal-...
- baby 7y ago
  It doesn’t fit with any of his skills. People think “oh, he knows cryptography, so he Must be a good candidate to be satoshi”. It’s not that simple, the perfect candidate is someone versed in the ecash literature as well as someone who can write an academic paper (even if lacking, the form is there).
na85 7y ago
Wow that Wikipedia article reads like a synopsis of a Bond movie.
- nyolfen 7y ago
  you do yourself a disservice if you don't read the atavist piece
  - giancarlostoro 7y ago
    Yes that is the Bond movie script with all the juicy bits.
mikorym 7y ago
It's interesting that he is from Zimbabwe (then Rhodesia). Of course, his name gives it away (that's why I checked). But what I wanted to say was something else. > he [liked] the video game Wing Commander [1] Somewhere between 1990 and 1995 I recall that Windows PCs in South Africa shipped with a games CD. You would get Ultima (immediately banned by your parents), Wing Commander, Sea Wolf and other games and this would be your staple for a while. When Warcraft 2 (or it may have been Starcraft) came out I think it cost about R 350 (USD 90 in 1995) so you would need to be more picky in the games you could buy than today. One should mention the rand's historic dissonance with regard to the exchange rate and PPP, but whatever. I remember buying some shitty Disney game for the same amount and regretting it instantly (I played Warcraft 2 instead). It was not until 1999 that I saw games "in bulk" with Tiberian Sun, ReVolt and a multitude of other games being shared on DC. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Le_Roux https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Le_Roux, edited for sensational language. Note that he had the console version, but I am not sure which console that would be. The PS1 was the first major console in South Africa (apart from "video games", i.e. famicon or NES clones) but I may stand corrected.
- 6645throwaway 7y ago
  I’m reading the Atavist piece and noticed that he was extremely racist towards Asians and yet two of his ex-wives were Asian. I wonder how he reconciled that. I feel really bad for his kids. When I studying in Asia, I met a few mixed-race kids that had racist expat parents and they often had major identity issues. For those that didn’t stay in the expat bubble, they would shun their “Western side” and try to completely blend in with the locals.
  - mikorym 7y ago
    Well, where I come from, the racist people have a tendency to do that, so they themselves have identity issues.
eternalny1 7y ago
Wow. That Wikipedia entry on Le Roux is wild. I never knew any of that. Something straight of a complex spy thriller.

RcouF1uZ4gsC 7y ago

From the TrueCrypt shutdown page: http://truecrypt.sourceforge.net/ http://truecrypt.sourceforge.net/ > WARNING: Using TrueCrypt is not secure as it may contain unfixed security issues Which if you are into conspiracy theories can be rendered as Using TrueCrypt is Not Secure As => using TrueCrypt is NSA