Tag Archives: NSA

Security

Election Crypto Conspiracy Theory

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Eye atop a pyramid - a mystical signI’m not often a fan of conspiracy theories, except for entertainment value. This one is interesting because it combines international intrigue, the elections, and our world of notoriously poor email security.

The conspiracy arises from foreigners trying to influence the United States election. They spy on unprotected emails and leak the contents to influence US public opinion. This isn’t limited to attacks on the Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton. Some suggest that Fox News and the Trump campaign have also been attacked this way.

We could be blocking this threat, except that pressure groups within the government want to leave as much information unprotected as possible, notably law enforcement and intelligence agencies. I think we face a greater threat from foreign exploitation of our unprotected emails than we face from impeded investigations or even a few terrorist bombs.

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Security

NSA re-releases Boak’s Lectures

Boak's History of US COMSECI’m a fan of Boak’s Lectures – they cover the fundamentals of military cryptography just before the information revolution.David Boak developed the lectures for the National Security Agency’s Cryptologic School.

Even though the lectures are from the ’60s and ’70s, they remain relevant to today’s cybersecurity threats. Cryptographic techniques that were classified Secret in Boak’s work are prominent in modern commercial cryptosystems. A sanitized version of Boak’s Lectures (Vol 1, Vol 2) was released in 2008.

I’m happy to report that the Interagency Security Classification Appeals Panel has released a more complete (less redacted) version. It’s available from the Government Attic.

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Security

Boak’s Puzzle: Disposing of Classified Trash

Boak's History of US COMSECRecently I was skimming through the NSA’s “classified history of COMSEC” (Volume 1 and Volume 2).  This “history” is a transcription of lectures by David G. Boak, who liked to explain NSA-related topics from a historical perspective. He clearly inspired a generation of NSA’s employees. The last “real” page of the document contains a humorous story and a crypto puzzle (link to extract in pdf).

The NSA had an incinerator in their old Arlington Hall facility that was designed to reduce Top Secret crypto materials and such to ash. Someone discovered that it wasn’t in fact working. Contract disposal trucks had been disposing of this not-quite-sanitized rubish, and officers tracked down a huge pile in a field in Ft. Meyer.

How did they dispose of it? The answer is encrypted in the story’s text! Continue reading Boak’s Puzzle: Disposing of Classified Trash →

Security, Tech Teaching

One-Time Pads

The one-time pad is the only encryption technique that has been mathematically proven to be uncrackable. While hard to use, it has often been the choice for highly sensitive traffic. Soviet spies used one-time pads in the 1940s and -50s. The Washington-Moscow “hot line” also uses one-time pads. However, the technique is hard to use correctly.

Photo courtesy of Cryptomuseum.com. 

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