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But information on the NSA's efforts to crack the encrypted portion of that traffic — which would include much of the email bouncing around the net — has remain
by thezilch 13y ago
But information on the NSA's efforts to crack the encrypted portion of that traffic — which would include much of the email bouncing around the net — has remained absent
What Wired.com? Much of the email bouncing around the net and even internal networks, save for traversals like gmail-to-gmail, are NOT a portion of the encrypted traffic. It's important you report this correctly, because "the masses" are otherwise made unaware or unconcerned about the implications. "Oh, I'll just email you my passwords; I heard 'those guys' can read SMS."
- marshray 13y agoA lot of SMTP server-to-server traffic is encrypted. But a lot of it isn't, and it only takes one exposed hop. So as a general rule email isn't effectively or reliably encrypted. There's probably also a lot of email traffic being carried over crackable VPN links such as PPTP.
- thezilch 13y agoYou're certainly right. By "much" and especially in cases involving security, I don't think we can be happy with or report on the system's security with just a "majority" being all that's need to feel safe. In fact, I'd go as far to say that unless approaching 100% and without considering circumstances like those that involve an NSL, all bets are off. Circumstances concerning an NSL are another matter, and that's where we should eliminate the on-the-wire concerns and opt for PGP-like communication.