Pioneer In Internet Anonymity Hands FBI A Huge Gift In Building Dangerous Backdoored Encryption System
from the not-a-good-idea dept
I first came across cryptography pioneer David Chaum about a decade ago, during the debates about online voting. Many in the technology world were insisting that such things were impossible to do safely, but Chaum insisted he had come up with a way to do online voting safely (he'd also tried to do electronic money, DigiCash... unsuccessfully). Many people disagreed with Chaum and it led to some fairly epic discussions. It appears that Chaum is again making moves that are making many of his colleagues angry: specifically creating a backdoored encryption system.Few doubt Chaum's cryptography skills or pedigree. He was instrumental in the early days of computer cryptography and what anonymity we have online today owes a lot to Chaum. But his latest plan is... troubling:
At the Real World Crypto conference at Stanford University today, Chaum plans to present for the first time a new encryption scheme he calls PrivaTegrity. Like other tools Chaum has spent his long career developing, PrivaTegrity is designed to allow fully secret, anonymous communications that no eavesdropper can crack, whether a hacker or an intelligence agency.That part sounds good, right? But then there's this:
That ambitious privacy toolset aside, Chaum is also building into PrivaTegrity another feature that’s sure to be far more controversial: a carefully controlled backdoor that allows anyone doing something “generally recognized as evil” to have their anonymity and privacy stripped altogether.Unfortunately, Chaum is both totally missing the point and playing right into the FBI's hands. The argument of basically every other cryptographer is that building any encryption system is incredibly difficult -- and introducing any sort of backdoor opens up massive and dangerous vulnerabilities -- whether the original creators recognize it or not. The second you introduce a backdoor -- even using Chaum's weird "nine people in nine countries" system -- you have introduced a vulnerability. A vulnerability that can and will be abused by others. You are introducing a security flaw. And that's a massive security problem.
Whoever controls that backdoor within PrivaTegrity would have the power to decide who counts as “evil”—too much power, Chaum recognizes, for any single company or government. So he’s given the task to a sort of council system. When PrivaTegrity’s setup is complete, nine server administrators in nine different countries would all need to cooperate to trace criminals within the network and decrypt their communications. The result, Chaum argues, is a new approach that “breaks the crypto wars,” satisfying both the law enforcement agencies who argue that encryption offers a haven for criminals, and also those who argue that it’s necessary to hobble mass spying.
Chaum's bragging about this system totally misses this point:
“If you want a way to solve this apparent logjam, here it is,” says Chaum. “We don’t have to give up on privacy. We don’t have to allow terrorists and drug dealers to use it. We can have a civil society electronically without the possibility of covert mass surveillance.”That assumes that his system can't be hacked. That's a dangerous claim. Yes, the "key" is split into 9 pieces, but it's still introducing a vulnerability and undermining the integrity of the system.
And, worst of all, as ACLU security expert Chris Soghoian points out, this is little more than a huge political gift to the FBI, who can go back to their stupid claims that if technologists just work harder they can come up with a "solution" to the false problem of "going dark." Similarly, you have politicians like Hillary Clinton insisting that if only techies come together with government they can "solve" the encryption/"going dark" issue.
And now you can bet, without a doubt, that law enforcement and clueless politicians will start pointing to Chaum's offering as an example of a "solution."
Security experts: Backdoors weaken security. They're a bad idea.
Chaum: I've built a new system with a backdoor.
FBI: See? It is possible.
— Christopher Soghoian (@csoghoian) January 6, 2016And, of course, none of PrivaTegrity's security claims have been checked or audited publicly at this point. Chaum admits that while the eventual plan will involve routing messages (multiple times) though nine servers in nine different countries, the prototype runs entirely on Amazon's cloud computing infrastructure. Either way, at the very least, the system makes it clear that decrypting all such traffic requires attacking and compromising just nine servers. If you don't think the NSA can do that, you haven't been paying attention.
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Filed Under: backdoors, david chaum, encryption, going dark, hillary clinton, james comey, security
Companies: privategrity
Reader Comments
The First Word
“Who holds the keys?
"...nine server administrators..."Let me put that another way:
Nine
Server
Administrators
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'Secure' communications that aren't
Like other tools Chaum has spent his long career developing, PrivaTegrity is designed to allow fully secret, anonymous communications that no eavesdropper can crack, whether a hacker or an intelligence agency.
Is completely and utterly undercut by this part...
That ambitious privacy toolset aside, Chaum is also building into PrivaTegrity another feature that’s sure to be far more controversial: a carefully controlled backdoor that allows anyone doing something “generally recognized as evil” to have their anonymity and privacy stripped altogether.
As far as I can tell, there is one way the first statement can be true given the second one, and that is no 'hacker or an intelligence agency' needs to crack the system, because it starts out that way.
If the system allows anyone to strip those using it of their privacy and anonymity, then that flaw will be found, with the easiest method simply finding the nine 'council members' and getting their individual pieces of the decryption key. Given they have to have a way to communication between each other and Chaum, that task should be trivially easy given the resources the various spy agencies have to throw at the problem, and once that's done, the entire system is compromised.
I hope the FBI and/or NSA sends the guy a nice fruit basket or job offer, because with this colossal blunder he might as well be working for them already.
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Re: 'Secure' communications that aren't
FBI: Give us the key.
Chaum: no.
FBI: Okay, boys. Take *everything*.
You mean *those* resources?
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Re: 'Secure' communications that aren't
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Seen before
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Re: Seen before
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Re: Seen before
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One key ring to bind them all.
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Re: Seen before
Seven for the Congressional Lords in their halls of stone,
Nine for Terrorists doomed to die,
One for the Dark Lord on the Firearms throne,
In the land of the Free where the Shadows lie,
One key to rule them all, one key to find them,
One key to bring them all and in the darkness bind them
In the Land of the Free where the Shadows lie.
/edited for artistic freedom
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Re: Seen before
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Better Idea
If all 1,000,000 can be bothered to click a link, and approve the decryption then it flies.
If even 1 person doesn't click or doesn't approve then it remains encrypted.
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Re: Better Idea
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Re: Re: Re: Better Idea
Further, every part of the nine part key that can be obtained by any means just makes the problem simpler. When the key holders accede to some reasonable request, it is likely that some or all of their systems will have been compromised to gain parts of the key. The idea of any single key, no matter how divided, give a single point of attack to compromise any message, and is a monumentally stupid idea because once it has been obtained all communications using the system are compromised.
Given such a weak point the NSA will be one of the first to compromise the system, but they will not be the only ones.
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Re: Better Idea
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Re: Re: Re: Better Idea
Probably all possibilities would be realized.
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Then there's the the chicken and egg problem they've got going. The only real way to tell if encrypted traffic is "doing something evil" is to decrypt it. So if an agreement that the traffic needs to be decrypted calls for that, either no traffic will be decrypted, or all traffic will be decrytped upon request.
That doesn't even begin to getting to the problem of getting people to actual use this.
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Re:
1. chicken and egg problem, The only real way to tell if encrypted traffic is "doing something evil" is to decrypt it.
2. the problem of getting people to actual use this.
The two problems interact and solve each other.
Evil traffic is indicated by the fact that it is encrypted and NOT using this insecure scheme.
The way you get people to use the insecure scheme is to have a horiffical terrorful punishment for not using it. Other regimes have done similar things and the past.
After all, it's for your own security.
For your own security, use insecure security. Used by all oxymorons.
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They should just use it.
I, on the other hand, will stick with real encryption.
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Re:
Glenn Greenwald
Julian Assange
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But then, you got me thinking.
If they all did leak their key part to the public, would that necessarily be a bad outcome?
This whole scheme would come crashing down in flames faster than the MPAA can send a DMCA notice to Google.
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Re: Re: Re:
I think it's more likely one or more of them would permanently delete his key and then no messages could ever be decrypted.
Does this guy have a plan to replace keys for when one or more key parts are compromised? Or would he have to burn it down and start all over?
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Re: Re:
North Korea's Kim Jong Un, the Zeta drug cartel.
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Why would we want to give keys to the CIA?
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Who holds the keys?
Let me put that another way:
Nine
Server
Administrators
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Re: Who holds the keys?
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Re: Who holds the keys?
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Two possibilities
1. Chaum is an incredibly naive nerd that really does not understand the actual issue.
2. He is not getting the attention he things he should for his work and figures that his system will be a wonderful pr tool.
Possibly both.
Besides, how do you select the nine persons with keys? How do you guarantee they are not compromised. Any reliance on the human elements is doomed to fail.
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Re: Two possibilities
3. He is not an incredibly naive nerd, understands the actual issue perfectly well, and based on his understanding comes up with this proposal.
If true, what would that tell you?
As for your other questions:
Q. How do you select the nine persons with keys?
A1. By lottery.
A2. By a national to the death steel cage match to find the nine toughest people.
A3. Based on the size of their, um . . ., bank account.
A4. Save a lot of time and trouble by letting the US Congress appoint them via secret proceedings. And keep the identities of the nine golden key holders a secret.
[que song: 'cause I've got a golden key! to tune from Charlie and the Chocolate factory.]
Q. How do you guarantee that the golden keys are not compromised?
A. In the event of a key compromise the government would be obligated by law to publish a notice in the bottom of a locked filing cabinet stuck in a disused lavatory with a sign on the door saying ‘Beware of the Leopard.”
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Re: Re: Two possibilities
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Re: Re: Re: Two possibilities
Or using actual secure encryption that everyone else will use despite what the government says is good for you?
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The canary birt in the cold mine
The regime may have hurt him, or convinced him of their ability and willingness to hurt him.
David Chaum's absurd proposal might be an attempt to say what they want to hear while assuring that no sane person fall for it. Whether or not it is intentional, nothing he says henceforth should ever again be taken seriously.
Perhaps it is his Truecrypt "bitlocker" advise?
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carefully controlled backdoor
Haven't all past notions of introducing back doors ASSUMED that the back door would be carefully controlled?
Or are the 'golden key' advocates thinking they can pass out the golden keys like candy at Halloween?
Just because Chaum's golden key would be 'carefully controlled' doesn't make his argument any different different. All the past objections to backdoors WERE about 'carefully' controlled back doors, or golden keys, or whatever you want to call them.
The problem is: what happens once the backdoor is hacked by the Russians, the Chinese, Anonymous, the NSA or other bad actors?
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"Chaum has yet to reveal the full list of the countries where PrivaTegrity would place its servers. But he suggests they’ll be in the jurisdiction of democratic governments, and names Switzerland, Canada and Iceland as examples"
Of course Russia, India, China, Pakistan, NK, Saudi Arabia and so on will agree to let their citizens use this wondrous technology, worldwide success is guaranteed, and peace and harmony will descend over the planet.
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Rather than democratic governments as proposed, I suggest an approach more likely to ensure the continuity of service and permanent operation of these servers.
Make them co-located on the same servers used by:
the pirate bay
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Also, the NSA proposed split keys in early 2015 and it was roundly rejected. This proposal will go nowhere.
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Re:
I think the FBI, the NSA, the CIA, Congress, and Dianne Feinstein will trip over one another trying to accept it first.
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Re: Re:
Almost.
I think the FBI, the NSA, the CIA, Congress, and Dianne Feinstein will trip over one another trying to force other people to use it first.
They don't want their communications to be decryptable, they want everyone else's communications to be decryptable.
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The question IS whether you can build a SECURE system with a back door.
The answer is: NO
Therefore the FIB wants to force an insecure system upon everyone.
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Technology aside, there's this other little issue...
Assuming the system worked as advertised (which, lets face it, you may as well assume the assistance of a perfectly spherical purple cow):
Good luck finding 9 people globally who are both smart and ethical enough to make a legitimate "Good/Evil" decision _and_ stupid enough to attract the attention of every intelligence organization on the planet to themselves and their families.
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Re: Technology aside, there's this other little issue...
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Chaum has devolved into a crank
It's a pity, but it's true: he's completely lost it and anything he says or does may be safely dismissed on inspection.
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Re: Chaum has devolved into a crank
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What may not be able to be accomplished in one method can be in another. Bribery, setup for false charges for deal making, honeypots for embarrassment, blackmail; hell where does this list end? If you can't get one of these administrators to deal, then there is always removal from the group or death to accomplish a much more favorable person to their way of seeing things.
If not this year when it comes out, then next year after it is no longer in the public eye. If that won't work then the next year after that.
My point being you can't measure nation states and how far they are willing to go by individual standards.
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Seven for the NSA in their halls of stone,
Nine for Mortal Men corrupted by greed,
One for the Dark Lord on his dark throne
In the Land of Langley where the Government lies.
One Key to rule them all, One Key to find them,
One Key to decrypt them all and in the courts convict them
In the Land of Langley where the Shadows lie.
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The problem is not technical, but human
That Chaum thinks this is a good idea shows that geeks used to thinking technically can be very naive when it comes to thinking practically.
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RE: What Windows is based upon
Seven for NATO in their halls of stone,
Nine for admins doomed to die,
In the land of America, where the shadows lie.
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A simpler and safer way of obeying that law is simply to assume encryption has been made illegal. Encryption is not the only way to pass secrets so I'll use the other, less convenient, ways instead. What have they gained? Animosity. What have I lost? Convenience, and that's all.
Stupid game. Their move.
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Old bad idea.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Key_escrow
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Just saw the talk...
He then went on to completely omit the fact that there is this glaring security hole. Rather it's left to an exercise for the reader. What a cowardly cop-out.
Oh, and he also stated that the system would have to run "in a highly secure data center managed by someone in this room", ignoring the fact that most people in the room could also break in to such a "secure data center".
Bad news all around.
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Isn't it easier
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Re: Isn't it easier
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Captain Crypto....
...able to spy on all those girls who wouldn't date us.
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"The fellowship of watching you masturbate", "the porn wraiths", "the nine kings of ".
But yeah in all seriousness this is a steaming pile of utter failure.
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Also, I just love the name. It should be sold on late night infomercials and YouTube.
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Re:
With this moron's actions the voyeurs will be re-energized, claiming that this is exactly what they were demanding, and if one person can do it, clearly other companies can do the same, completely ignoring that this 'encryption' system is useless, just as tech companies have been saying of any form of broken encryption.
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Day two: Admin reports he's lost his key, he thinks he left it on the fridge, and he's DEFINITELY sure he had it when he left to gas up his car last monday.
Cue homeland security being called in to check down the back of his sofa.....
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