Cryptography, NSA and the real source - Re: Brin on privacy

From: siproj (siproj@ripco.com)
Date: Fri Dec 27 1996 - 07:23:33 MST


On Sat, 21 Dec 1996, James Rogers wrote:

[much deleted]
> For example, no amount of budget would allow the NSA to crack an IDEA
> encrypted message. There isn't enough computational capability available.

The conventional ways to measure computational capability of the NSA are
inadequate. The NSA is using static memory driven logic to achieve
higher orders of performance than any typically recognized high speed
computer and that is of great interest to many and publicly disclosed.

> >>: but the NSA could see the difference.
> >> But not _casually_. That's the point.

James Bamfords, 'The Puzzle Palace', has as one significant gist, SIGINT,
that is the tool the NSA likes more than crackig codes. Interpretation
of who, sent what types of message to whom when adn the subsequent chains
therein generated lead to far more answers than any encrypted mesage
unscrolled with much easier objectivity in what the meaning in the end is!

[even more deleted]
> Today people have a fairly broad choice of crypto algorithms that would
> produce output that essentially requires that the NSA know what algorithm
> was used. The entropy of many encryption methods used today is so high as
> to be indistinguishable from noise. -James Rogers jamesr@best.com

The headers on most methods of encryption reveal adequate amounts of
detail for SIGINT analysis to yield what was used. The packet flows show
source and destination along with intercept time, the when. Extropians
ought to develop SIGINT techniques to locate NODAL information flows
(Idoru - by William Gibson thematically popularized the notion and
importance) with a public domain or GNU style effort.

Of course the Puzzle Palace will be watching and probably learn something,
but the point is, that we would have a super-powerful knowledge tool box
heretofore locked behind mysterious doors. IF GNU style is economically
inadequate, Java based tools may make for a revenue generator for a new
venture!

FYI - The reason PGP raised the hackles of those suited and hatted
mathematically trapped like Kirkegaards Cat in a box of black body
radiation is that the SIGINT analysis falls apart a great deal when one
system is ubiquituous with a large audience and anonymous remailers etc.
skew the statistical analysis to the point of unuseability. Therefore,
popularity and anonymity defeat most of the intelligence through siginals
handily and now you know one big giga-secret!

Java Beans, PGP, Anonymity and new Anonymous Web Enabled and conveyance
via proxy (cookie free of course) will lead to the next revolution in
denial of signal intelligence service.

Keywords to look for include, SIGINT, Programmable Logic, High
Performance, PGP, Java, Java Beans, Transposition Cipher, Spread
Spectrum, Poly Mode Communication, Blended Communication, Nodal Point,
Brin, Gibson, Current Writings, Wired, Underground ZIP files, Phreaker,
James Bamford

Any comments?



This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Fri Nov 01 2002 - 14:35:55 MST