IP: IRA cracks British Army encryption codes?

[Dave Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>]

One does wonder whether it will not be easier for the IRA in the future to
just get the escrow key for the BA good stuff. After all I bet there are
IRA sympathizers within the UK government or at least people who like their
Shillings.  djf




> IRA cracks Army encryption codes
>
>
> The IRA has broken through the low-level encryption being used by the
> British Army, raising fears that it can now access stored information that
> was previously thought to be safe.
>
> It stole Army information, including four computer disks, from a Welsh
> Guards intelligence agent, named as Sergeant RA Davies by Republican
> newspaper An Phoblacht.  In a story on 29th January, the paper claimed the
> IRS had intercepted British intelligence documents and was attempting to
> access the disks.
>
> Sources claim the IRA has now cracked the encryption on the disks, which
> held spreadsheets, reports, analyses, names and addresses.  It is believed
> the data included a list of Army informants.
>
> Intelligence experts have long claimed that the IRA was already capable of
> accessing Inland Revenue and DSS computers, usually through internal
> sympathisers.  But this latest incident shows the terrorists have the
> expertise to break low-level computerised protection.
>
> Neil Barrett, principal consultant at Bull Information Systems and an
> expert in computer security and information warfare, said "If true, it's
> handed the IRA an object lesson on how to break these computer systems.  It
> doesn't mean it will be able to break all systems, but it does mean that
> the threat level has rocketed up.  It also makes it very apparent that the
> IRA is willing to exercise a level of skill in hacking that it wasn't
> publicly known to have had in the past."
>
> An MoD spokesman in Northern Ireland said: "We cannot comment on
> operational matters, but the incident is being investigated. The
> information is of the lowest classification as far as we are aware."
>
> An Phoblacht claimed the IRA also seized a manual called Operational
> Intelligence Aide Memoire, which describes two databases used by the Army
> in Northern Ireland: Crucible, for general purpose intelligence, and
> Vengeful, for vehicle intelligence.




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