January 2006 - cypherpunks-legacy

[ptrei@rsasecurity.com: RE: thoughts on one time pads]
by Eugen Leitl 28 Jan '06

28 Jan '06

He's completely correct, of course. Forgot that simple trick -- did it often enough a couple years ago. Water ballast might not be strictly necessary, but it wouldn't hurt. ----- Forwarded message from "Trei, Peter" <ptrei(a)rsasecurity.com> -----

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[pgut001@cs.auckland.ac.nz: Re: thoughts on one time pads]
by Eugen Leitl 28 Jan '06

28 Jan '06

For low security applications I just (carefully) break them by hand (careful: ballistic polycarbonate, so cover your eyes). Shredding would be good, but it would take an expensive shredder. Sudden thermal stress (liquid nitrogen, etc) might be good enough to delaminate, leaving clear disks behind. ----- Forwarded message from Peter Gutmann <pgut001(a)cs.auckland.ac.nz> -----

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[abhishek.hazra@gmail.com: Re: [silk] "outsourcing torture" - a b-school style case study]
by Eugen Leitl 28 Jan '06

28 Jan '06

----- Forwarded message from Abhishek Hazra <abhishek.hazra(a)gmail.com> -----

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by Clare Crocker 28 Jan '06

28 Jan '06

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[dave@farber.net: [IP] Legal FAQs on NSA Wiretaps]
by Eugen Leitl 28 Jan '06

28 Jan '06

----- Forwarded message from David Farber <dave(a)farber.net> -----

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Feds get serious about digital gold currencies
by Steve Schear 27 Jan '06

27 Jan '06

Law enforcement officials are investigating the business of Florida oncologist-turned-Internet entrepreneur Dr. Douglas Jackson to determine if he had any knowledge of criminals allegedly using his gold-backed currency system to launder money or steal identities. In December the FBI raided Jackson's Melbourne business, Gold & Silver Reserve Inc., the parent company of e-gold Ltd., and his home in Satellite Beach. The E-Gold raid may be set off by an alleged digital currency scam by a minor digital currency company. The U.S. Department of Justice raided the offices and homes of the principals of INTGOLD which had been portrayed by some members of the DGC community as a Ponzi scheme in the weeks leading up. Some of the funds in INTGOLD traveled through exchange agents also dealing in E-Gold had been deposited or withdrawn through independent exchange agents. E-Gold, arguably the oldest DGC, did not appear to be anymore involved in the fraud than banks who unknowingly receive allegedly tainted funds. In the raid, federal agents took files and hardware related to e-gold, an on-line service Jackson started in 1996, which turns physical dollars into digital currency that is backed by gold repositories in London and Dubai. Some aspects of the company's operations were reported by Jackson to have been impaired. Bank accounts were seized and some funds were impounded. Jackson said the investigation has resulted in a loss of revenue when computer servers were taken off-line for 36 hours. "The worst effect, of course, is on our reputation," Jackson said. It "will surely impair our efforts to build strategic relationships with the host of businesses and individuals that would benefit from an embrace of e-gold." It seems there has been some on-going regulatory maneuvering by E-Gold to have its services classified as a currency rather than a payment system operator or money transmitter. Whether an on-line payment system or digital currency service meets the definition of a money transmitter pursuant to U.S. Banking Secrecy Act (BSA) regulations, though, depends upon its location and the ways in which it participates in or conducts transactions. Many on-line payment systems are based outside the United States and are not subject to US jurisdiction. Some on-line payment systems maybe be licensed in one country and maintain operations in various other countries without a physical retail presence anywhere. Determining which legal entity has jurisdiction for regulatory and enforcement purposes can be challenging for regulators. As a result, potential users around the world now are finding they can go on-line to access payment solutions that may be unavailable from a domestically-regulated service provider. In possible coordination with the raid an uncomplimentary and perhaps unfair piece about E-Gold was published by in January 9th issue of BusinessWeek magazine, with the article noting that e-gold and similar on-line payment systems are becoming the currency used by cyber-criminals to steal credit card information, sell identities and make ill-gotten cash disappear. Experts say similar issues will keep cropping up as the world moves to digital medium and online payment systems gain more mainstream acceptance. At e-gold alone, Jackson estimates his site has more than 1 million users moving billions of dollars a year for a small fee. Jackson denied he didn't adequately police his company, adding that he has an investigative staff that responds to inquiries from agencies inside and outside of this country that need information about e-gold customers. Jackson said, "E-gold has a long history of cooperation with law enforcement agencies in the U.S. and worldwide, providing data and investigative assistance in response to lawful requests" and that prior to the raid he had met with officials from the FBI, the Internal Revenue Service, the Securities and Exchange Commission and other federal agencies to ensure his company was compliant with the law. Jackson added that, on more than 300 occasions they provided the government with information regarding individuals government agencies believed were breaking the law. The case against G&SR, operators of the e-gold payment system, has been filed in Washington DC courts. Here are some of the filings, apparently from the PACER system, which is a US Government site for court documents. [Thanks to Ian Grigg and his excellent Financial Cryptography blogg https://www.financialcryptography.com/mt/archives/000640.html for the following links] www.financialcryptography.com/download/Complaint_e-gold.pdf www.financialcryptography.com/download/Doc3e-gold.pdf www.financialcryptography.com/download/Doc4e-gold.pdf www.financialcryptography.com/download/Doc5e-gold.pdf www.financialcryptography.com/download/Doc6e-gold.pdf www.financialcryptography.com/download/Doc7e-gold.pdf Steve [Portions of the preceding were excerpted from a January 6, 2006 article in Florida Today]

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Encryption Using Chaos
by R. A. Hettinga 27 Jan '06

27 Jan '06

--- begin forwarded text Date: Fri, 27 Jan 2006 19:10:42 -0500 To: Philodox Clips List <clips(a)philodox.com> From: "R. A. Hettinga" <rah(a)shipwright.com> Subject: Encryption Using Chaos <http://online.wsj.com/article_print/SB113838965445358466.html> The Wall Street Journal January 27, 2006 3:20 p.m. EST MIT TECHNOLOGY REVIEW Encryption Using Chaos Lasers that "hide" messages could mean more foolproof security in online transactions By KATE GREENE January 27, 2006 3:20 p.m. You know that eBay Inc. purchase you made? The online credit card payment you sent? The bank statement you checked at your computer? These transactions contained sensitive information about you that, for the most part, is kept private thanks to encryption software that scrambles the message before it's sent (and unscrambles it once it's received by the intended party). But software is not the only way to protect digital information. Now researchers are looking at ways to exploit lasers with chaotically fluctuating signals, to add an extra layer of privacy to messages sent over fiber-optic lines. By slipping a message into such a laser beam, decrypting the message requires a nearly identical laser to receive it -- a process that's not readily accessible to most people. To demonstrate the feasibility of the technology, Claudio Mirasso of the Universitat de les Illes Balears in Palma de Mallorca, Spain, and his team recently showed that chaotic lasers can send and receive a message over about 75 miles of commercially laid fiber optics. Even more impressive: The transmission rate was one gigabyte of chaos-encrypted information per second -- comparable to that of most commercial data transmissions. It was a major step that, for the first time, put this exotic encryption technique into the real world. 1 Also in MIT Technology Review (www.technologyreview.com2) * Moore's Law Lives * Solar-Powered Nanomotors * Finding Land Mines Faster In order to send a message within a chaotic beam of light, Mr. Mirasso explains, the message must first be converted into an optical signal. It is then fed into a laser that passes it along within the laser's beam. The researchers then heighten the naturally occurring chaos in the beam and feed the message into it. This message-plus-chaos is sent to a nearly identical laser that receives it within its lasing cavity -- the innards of a laser where photons are stimulated and emitted. At this point, Mr. Mirasso says, a phenomenon called chaotic synchronization takes over. This process, admittedly not entirely understood by scientists, makes the receiving laser's output match the message-plus-chaos of the sending laser. Then, to decrypt the original message, the chaos -- a known signal from the sending laser -- is subtracted from the receiving laser's beam, revealing the hidden information. Before chaotic message encryption hits the big time, however, it must be shown to be as robust as traditional optical signals. In the Jan. 1 issue of IEEE Photonic Technology Letters, a group has announced that they've tested the mettle of a chaos-encrypted message by relaying it through an intermediary laser. This step is crucial, explains Alan Shore of the University of Wales in Bangor, because commercial systems use relay stations to boost the distance a message can travel, and chaos-encrypted messages need to be just as strong as other information sent through a network. Mr. Shore's research also shows that it is possible to "send out messages to more than one receiver and extract messages at an intermediary stage," a common occurrence in standard optical networks. Mr. Mirasso's next project involves developing "compact devices for chaos-based optical communication." Still, he notes, some issues with the technology need to be addressed. For instance, researchers still need to quantify the level of security they can offer "compared to other [techniques] like software-based encryption or quantum cryptography," he says. Mr. Mirasso estimates that using lasers to keep information private is roughly five years away from commercial viability. This article appeared Jan. 24, 2006 on the Web site of Technology Review, an MIT Enterprise. -- ----------------- R. A. Hettinga <mailto: rah(a)ibuc.com> The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation <http://www.ibuc.com/> 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA "... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity, [predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire' --- end forwarded text -- ----------------- R. A. Hettinga <mailto: rah(a)ibuc.com> The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation <http://www.ibuc.com/> 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA "... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity, [predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'

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27 Jan '06

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Ye Olde Rummy's PsyOps
by Eugen Leitl 27 Jan '06

27 Jan '06

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4655196.stm US plans to 'fight the net' revealed By Adam Brookes BBC Pentagon correspondent A newly declassified document gives a fascinating glimpse into the US military's plans for "information operations" - from psychological operations, to attacks on hostile computer networks. Internet cafe in Iraq The document says information is "critical to military success" Bloggers beware. As the world turns networked, the Pentagon is calculating the military opportunities that computer networks, wireless technologies and the modern media offer. >From influencing public opinion through new media to designing "computer network attack" weapons, the US military is learning to fight an electronic war. The declassified document is called "Information Operations Roadmap". It was obtained by the National Security Archive at George Washington University using the Freedom of Information Act. Officials in the Pentagon wrote it in 2003. The Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld, signed it. Information Operations Roadmap Most computers will open PDF documents automatically, but you may need to download Adobe Acrobat Reader. Download the reader here The "roadmap" calls for a far-reaching overhaul of the military's ability to conduct information operations and electronic warfare. And, in some detail, it makes recommendations for how the US armed forces should think about this new, virtual warfare. The document says that information is "critical to military success". Computer and telecommunications networks are of vital operational importance. Propaganda The operations described in the document include a surprising range of military activities: public affairs officers who brief journalists, psychological operations troops who try to manipulate the thoughts and beliefs of an enemy, computer network attack specialists who seek to destroy enemy networks. All these are engaged in information operations. US Defense Secretary at the Pentagon The wide-reaching document was signed off by Donald Rumsfeld Perhaps the most startling aspect of the roadmap is its acknowledgement that information put out as part of the military's psychological operations, or Psyops, is finding its way onto the computer and television screens of ordinary Americans. "Information intended for foreign audiences, including public diplomacy and Psyops, is increasingly consumed by our domestic audience," it reads. "Psyops messages will often be replayed by the news media for much larger audiences, including the American public," it goes on. The document's authors acknowledge that American news media should not unwittingly broadcast military propaganda. "Specific boundaries should be established," they write. But they don't seem to explain how. "In this day and age it is impossible to prevent stories that are fed abroad as part of psychological operations propaganda from blowing back into the United States - even though they were directed abroad," says Kristin Adair of the National Security Archive. Credibility problem Public awareness of the US military's information operations is low, but it's growing - thanks to some operational clumsiness. When it describes plans for electronic warfare, or EW, the document takes on an extraordinary tone. It seems to see the internet as being equivalent to an enemy weapons system Late last year, it emerged that the Pentagon had paid a private company, the Lincoln Group, to plant hundreds of stories in Iraqi newspapers. The stories - all supportive of US policy - were written by military personnel and then placed in Iraqi publications. And websites that appeared to be information sites on the politics of Africa and the Balkans were found to be run by the Pentagon. But the true extent of the Pentagon's information operations, how they work, who they're aimed at, and at what point they turn from informing the public to influencing populations, is far from clear. The roadmap, however, gives a flavour of what the US military is up to - and the grand scale on which it's thinking. It reveals that Psyops personnel "support" the American government's international broadcasting. It singles out TV Marti - a station which broadcasts to Cuba - as receiving such support. It recommends that a global website be established that supports America's strategic objectives. But no American diplomats here, thank you. The website would use content from "third parties with greater credibility to foreign audiences than US officials". It also recommends that Psyops personnel should consider a range of technologies to disseminate propaganda in enemy territory: unmanned aerial vehicles, "miniaturized, scatterable public address systems", wireless devices, cellular phones and the internet. 'Fight the net' When it describes plans for electronic warfare, or EW, the document takes on an extraordinary tone. It seems to see the internet as being equivalent to an enemy weapons system. "Strategy should be based on the premise that the Department [of Defense] will 'fight the net' as it would an enemy weapons system," it reads. The slogan "fight the net" appears several times throughout the roadmap. The authors warn that US networks are very vulnerable to attack by hackers, enemies seeking to disable them, or spies looking for intelligence. "Networks are growing faster than we can defend them... Attack sophistication is increasing... Number of events is increasing." US digital ambition And, in a grand finale, the document recommends that the United States should seek the ability to "provide maximum control of the entire electromagnetic spectrum". US forces should be able to "disrupt or destroy the full spectrum of globally emerging communications systems, sensors, and weapons systems dependent on the electromagnetic spectrum". Consider that for a moment. The US military seeks the capability to knock out every telephone, every networked computer, every radar system on the planet. Are these plans the pipe dreams of self-aggrandising bureaucrats? Or are they real? The fact that the "Information Operations Roadmap" is approved by the Secretary of Defense suggests that these plans are taken very seriously indeed in the Pentagon. And that the scale and grandeur of the digital revolution is matched only by the US military's ambitions for it. -- Eugen* Leitl <a href="http://leitl.org">leitl</a> http://leitl.org ______________________________________________________________ ICBM: 48.07100, 11.36820 http://www.ativel.com 8B29F6BE: 099D 78BA 2FD3 B014 B08A 7779 75B0 2443 8B29 F6BE [demime 1.01d removed an attachment of type application/pgp-signature which had a name of signature.asc]

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27 Jan '06

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