We’re constantly being told by the State and its worshippers that cryptographic backdoors are necessary for the safety and security of all. The path to security Nirvana, we’re told, lies in mandating cryptographic backdoors in all products that can be unlocked by the State’s master key. This path is dangerous and idiotic on two fronts. First, if the master key is compromised every system implementing the backdoor is also compromised. Second, the State can’t even detect when its networks are compromised so there’s no reason to believe it can keep a master key safe:
The feds warned that “a group of malicious cyber actors,” whom security experts believe to be the government-sponsored hacking group known as APT6, “have compromised and stolen sensitive information from various government and commercial networks” since at least 2011, according to an FBI alert obtained by Motherboard.
The alert, which is also available online, shows that foreign government hackers are still successfully hacking and stealing data from US government’s servers, their activities going unnoticed for years.
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This group of “persistent cyber criminals” is especially persistent. The group is none other than the “APT6” hacking group, according to sources within the antivirus and threat intelligence industry. There isn’t much public literature about the group, other than a couple of old reports, but APT6, which stand for Advanced Persistent Threat 6, is a codename given to a group believed to be working for the Chinese government.
Even if somebody believes the United States government is a legitimate entity that can be trusted with a cryptographic master key, they probably don’t believe the likes of Iran, China, and North Korea are as well. But those are the governments that would likely get the master key and enjoy exploiting it for years before anybody became the wiser.
And the impact of such a master key being leaked, even if you mistakenly believe the United States government can be trusted to only use it for good, is hard to overstate. Assuming a law was passed mandating all devices manufactured or sold in the United States had to implement the backdoor, a leak of the master key would effective render every American device unencrypted.
So the real question is, do you trust a government that cannot detect threats within its network for years on end to secure a master key that can unlock all of your sensitive information? Only a fool would answer yes.