Putin Says All Encryption Must Be Backdoored In Two Weeks
from the make-it-snappy dept
A few weeks ago, we wrote about the push by the Russian Duma to pass a massive new surveillance bill that would mandate backdoors to encryption as well as massive data retention requirements for service providers, including saying that they need to store recordings of phone calls. As you may have heard, earlier this week, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed the bill into law. And apparently to prove that he's serious about all of this, Putin has also signed an executive order telling the FSB (the modern version of the KGB) to make sure it gets encryption keys to unlock everything within the next two weeks.After signing controversial anti-terrorist legislation earlier today, President Putin ordered the Federal Security Service (the FSB, the post-Soviet successor to the KGB) to produce encryption keys to decrypt all data on the Internet. According to the executive order, the FSB has two weeks to do it. Responsibility for carrying out Putin's instructions falls on Alexander Bortnikov, the head of the FSB.As the article notes, there's a lot of uncertainty here, because in many cases, when things are encrypted locally or where there are private keys, there isn't any way for service providers to turn over any keys.
What happens next is a little unclear. But it seems likely that the Russian government will use this to attack certain encrypted communications services, and potentially block and/or fine them for failing to comply with the new law. There has been a lot of talk about how Ed Snowden has been speaking out against this law, as he should. Considering that he uses a number of different encryption systems to communicate with the world, this law puts him very directly in danger. But it also puts lots of other people at risk as well. As we've been pointing out for a while, encryption does much more to protect everyday citizens than it does to hide the communications of "terrorists." Undermining that puts a lot more people at risk of people hacking into their stuff than being a victim of a terrorist attack.
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Filed Under: backdoors, data retention, ed snowden, encryption, fsb, mass surveillance, russia, surveillance, vladimir putin
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Dear Congress critters,
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As the old adage goes...
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Oh, Russian shills...
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Let's also see what new forms of Steganographic crypto appear in response.
In the meantime, the people of Russia are about to get way more vulnerable to hackers, state-endorsed or otherwise.
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In a related story...
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Not all all unexpected
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Ahhhh-hah-hah-hah-hah-hah-haaah-ha-heh-hoo-hoo-hehh. gasp.
omfg, it hurts a little..
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Well...
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once a spy, always a spy
The NSA or CIA might not be the only ones to plant backdoors in open source encryption. A rather high proportion of the world's crypographic experts are Russian. The RSA debacle might not be unique.
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Re:
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mUSIC TO THAT??
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Re: mUSIC TO THAT??
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Talk about a no-win scenario
Decrypt all data on the Internet? The whole Internet?
Might as well order them to solve global warming and world peace while he's at it.
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Re: Talk about a no-win scenario
I wonder of the FSB has presented Putin with an invoice for doing this massive job? Talk about unfunded directives!
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Backdoors and Payment Processing
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Re: Backdoors and Payment Processing
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The solution...
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Re: The solution...
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"Have you turn it off and on again at the same time without looking at it?"
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Support guy: "O great, the cat."
Schrodinger approves it!
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When everyone's super, no one is!
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Join the club.
Seems like Putin and the FSB are one the came page as Obama and the FBI.
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Re: Join the club.
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This is obviously not an attack on encryption.
that Putin's order is impossible to carry out and I'm sure
he doesn't care that everyone knows it.
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Evil Overlord Minimum Standards of Conduct.
When Putin fires someone, Mr. Bigglesworth gets upset.
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Re:
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Putin IS Soviet Union.
It would be as if an SS Officer were running Germany.
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1984
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Cautionary fiction
These days, young adult fiction is full of the stuff.
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Re: Cautionary fiction
That's because just about all the politicians try to ruin their respective countries by turning them into thoroughly oppressive dystopias.
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FFFFFUCK!
Pardon my frensh
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Had a boss who used to make demands like that,
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Interesting how the virtual walls appear the same as physical borders are reinforced. The world is closing itself off from each other, and I have trouble staying optimistic about it :/
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Sensationalist bullcrap
P.S. in Australia this already been done, wake up, no one caress.
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