E-squad launched to crack criminal codes on the net

[mea culpa <jericho () DIMENSIONAL COM>]

Forwarded From: Zombie Cow <waste () zor hut fi>
Originally From: Caspar Bowden <cb () fipr org>
Originally To: "Ukcrypto (E-mail)" <ukcrypto () maillist ox ac uk>

http://www.newsunlimited.co.uk/observer/uk_news/story/0,3879,79397,00.html

E-squad launched to crack criminal codes on the net

Government starts £20 million anti-encryption force amid claims that US has Windows super key
Richard Reeves, Society Editor
Sunday September 5, 1999

A specialist code-cracking unit is being set up to counter the growing use
of encrypted e-mail messages by drug-runners and paedophile rings. 
                                                     
The unit, with funding of £15-20 million, will draw staff from the
Government's communications centres at GCHQ - but will also headhunt top
code designers from the private sector. 'You could compare it to cracking
the Enigma code during World War Two,' said one senior Government source.
'We need an Alan Turing for the Internet age.'
                                                     
Big salaries will be offered to lure high-flying programmers into the
unit, which will be given a deliberately anodyne name - almost certainly
the Government Telecommunications Advisory Centre. 
                                                     
'The major criminal organisations, especially the drugs cartels, are
incredibly sophisticated. They have the money to have whole departments
working on codes. For now the encryption problem is not huge - but it is
going to grow and we need to be ready for it,' said the source. Combined
with fingerprint access, encrypted e-mail messages are likely to become
the communication of choice for serious criminals, according to the
intelligence services. 
                                                     
Legitimate businesses are also poised to use encryption to protect
market-sensitive information, with two-thirds of firms saying that
security fears were the biggest barrier to joining the e-commerce
revolution, according to a Department of Trade and Industry survey. 
                                                     
Since the Government abandoned plans to force all users of encryption to
deposit a key with a 'trusted third party' - a move fiercely opposed by
business - attention has focused on beefing up the detection of electronic
data by law enforcement agencies. 'We are ending up with one of the most
liberal regimes in the world,' said a DTI official. 'This makes
interception of messages and rapid decoding vital.'
                                                     
Experts at the National Criminal Intelligence Service (NCIS), which will
also provide staff and support for the unit, said that gathering real-time
information was crucial to the police and customs. 'Given enough time and
computer power, most codes can be cracked,' an NCIS expert said. 'But
cracking a code two weeks after a message has been intercepted is more
often than not completely useless, given that details of deals, time and
place, are what we need. Real-time information is gold-dust.'
                                                     
[snip...]

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