NSA Director Admiral Mike Rogers said it is vital for Divine Sam to spy on criminals and that this should be possible even if citizens use strong encryption.
Rogers reckons Americans should secure their communications against all eavesdroppers – except, of course, from those who work for the police, the FBI and the NSA (to counter terrorism). Experts, on the other hand, warn that any backdoors that allow this to happen can also be exploited by criminals.
Rogers spoke to one congress on cybersecurity hosted by the New America Foundation think tank on Monday according to TheRegister. Also present was Bruce Schneier, who has written a book on cryptography and argued that an obsession with cryptographic backdoors — like skeleton keys that can decrypt any message — will weaken Americans' security.
Yahoo! Security Chief Alex Stamos also wondered if his company is forced to install backdoors under the authority of the government, for the Russians and the Chinese have no right to submit such requests.
“Νομίζω ότι θα λέγαμε ψέματα [λέγοντας ότι η προσθήκη ενός backdoor cuts] δεν είναι τεχνικά εφικτή. Τώρα, αυτό θα πρέπει να γίνει μέσα σε ένα πλαίσιο. Είμαι ο πρώτος που το αναγνωρίζω αυτό,” είπε ο Rogers.
Rogers also spoke about backdoor, saying he was malicious, and insisted that there should be a legal framework for everyone except the FBI or the NSA to make the interception of communications easier.
But also on the table was the question of last week's revelation by Snowden that the NSA and GCHQ breached the largest SIM card maker to intercept the wrenches encryption, as well as Kaspersky Lab's report on malware of the NSA which is hidden in the firmware of the hard drives.
"It is clear that I am not going to go into details. "But I would like to say that we are legal," he said, adding that he did not believe Internet security would be compromised.
Is the NSA legal? Doubtful. The 215 Rule of the Patriotic Law, which supports espionage, will be renewed within 2015 after it expires at 31 May. Rogers said it is up to legislators to renew or change the law.
The answer to the question of the title is the characteristic Perfect Forward Secrecy: the software in most communications uses PFS to keep the data encrypted even if the encryption keys are in the hands of agents or criminals. So the Federals need other means to unlock the encrypted data.
