How Encryption Backdoors Compromise Your Security

[labbe5]

https://sritutorials.com/how-encryption ... d-privacy/

If terrorists and criminal gangs use secure communication methods, police can’t set up a wiretap and spy on the connection like they used to. It’s protected by a lot of complex math, which won’t yield to warrants or threats, making the information essentially inaccessible.

The problems that law enforcement agencies face have been brought to the attention of national legislators in many countries, with advocates either pushing for or passing laws that aim to break encryption and help the authorities access data. The push has been particularly prominent in the Five Eyes partners of Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the UK and the USA.

This movement is problematic, because as we noted above, encryption’s only master is the mathematics that it’s composed of. While most of us would like to help the authorities chase after their criminal targets, there’s also a conflict between the needs of the authorities and the interests of global information security.

The central dilemma is that we can’t just break encryption or insert a backdoor in a way that only the authorities can take advantage of – doing so would weaken the entire system, making it possible for attackers to hijack the backdoor, allowing them to access everyone’s communications.

The world of encryption and data security can be complex, so let’s first take a step back and look at why we need encryption, how it works, what a backdoor is in technical terms, as well as some examples of why inserting a backdoor is a terrible idea.

Further reading :
New Home Secretary calls for an end to end-to-end encryption
So far, none of those in favour of back door access to end-to-end crypto systems have adequately addressed the two largest concerns: That it will be impossible to prevent criminals from obtaining access through the same back doors as authorised agents, and that the existence of open-source end-to-end encryption utilities such as the GNU Privacy Guard (GPG) mean that even if Facebook and other major companies bow to demand for back-door access criminals will be able to continue to communicate entirely securely and without observation should they so choose - and choose they shall.
https://bit-tech.net/news/tech/software ... ryption/1/