Pgp Encryption Proves Powerful
In March, Italian authorities captured several Psion PDAs from terrorists in a shoot-out, but have been unable to glean valuable information from the devices because of the powerful encryption used to mask the data.
The PDAs, seized from the Red Brigades terrorist group, are protected by Pretty Good Privacy (PGP), according to the daily La Repubblica of Rome.
PGP inventor Phil Zimmermann says PGP can be used easily on Windows CE or Palm-equipped devices, not Psion’s Epoc system, but a spokesperson for Psion said PGP might be used, given the right add-on software.
Zimmermann says the encryption is not likely to be broken by even the FBI, which is currently analyzing the devices in Quantico, Va.
He says there is no “back door” for PGP, but there is a possibility investigators would be able to pick up unprotected plain text stored on the devices’ unused memory before the message was encrypted.
Although developers in the 1990s sought to create a solution that law enforcement would be able to look into, there was no way to ensure oppressive governments did not gain access to the same tools.
Zimmermann says PGP is meant to protect individuals from government surveillance that endangers their lives. On his personal Web site, Zimmermann features emails from around the world thanking him for PGP encryption. One email from Kosovar credits the encryption with keeping communications secret during coordination of the flight of 8,000 civilians from Serb government attack.
Zimmerman says, “The very best encryption available today is out of the reach of the very best cryptoanalytic methods that are known in the academic world, and it’s likely to continue that way.”
Abstracted by the National Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Center(NLECTC) from the IDG News Service (05/26/03); Willan, Philip .