FBI - Encryption is Great as Long as it Still Lets Us In

FBI Director James Comey

FBI Director James Comey defended his agency’s position that too-tough-to-crack encryption poses a threat to national security, arguing that terrorists are increasingly using the technology to lock out law enforcement and coordinate attacks.
Comey, in a brief op-ed appearing on the prominent national security blog Lawfare, said that “there are lots of good things” about universal strong encryption, such as expanded privacy and protection from cybercriminals. But those benefits must be balanced against the potential risks created by making it more difficult for the government to access the digital communications and data of those suspected of wrongdoing, he said.
“When the government’s ability—with appropriate predication and court oversight—to see an individual’s stuff goes away, it will affect public safety,” Comey wrote. “That tension is vividly illustrated by the current ISIL threat, which involves ISIL operators in Syria recruiting and tasking dozens of troubled Americans to kill people, a process that increasingly takes part through mobile messaging apps that are end-to-end encrypted, communications that may not be intercepted, despite judicial orders under the Fourth Amendment.”
Comey said that the same tension could be seen in domestic criminal investigations as well, adding that “there is simply no doubt that bad people can communicate with impunity in a world of universal strong encryption.”
Comey’s post previews a showdown later this week on Capitol Hill, where he will testify before two powerful Senate committees on Wednesday about the dangers of law enforcement “going dark” in its investigations due to encryption. Comey will appear before the Intelligence Committee, a rare open hearing before the normally closed-door panel, and the Judiciary Committee.
The Obama administration has grown increasingly wary about encryption on smartphones ever since Apple and Google last year announced efforts to offer tighter security by default on their products. Earlier this year, President Obama warned that, “if we get into a situation which the technologies do not allow us at all to track somebody we’re confident is a terrorist … that’s a problem.”
But many cybersecurity experts strongly disagree with Obama and Comey. Many believe there is no such thing as a “golden key” for encryption that could allow law-enforcement, or national security professionals, access into an encrypted device without also creating a vulnerability that malicious hackers could exploit. A secret 2009 U.S. cybersecurity report obtained by Edward Snowden and published by The Guardian seemed to back that view up, warning that government and private computers are vulnerable to cyberattacks from Russia, China, and criminal actors if stronger encryption was not adopted across the board.
DefenseOne: http://bit.ly/1JdEgUX