CHAPTER 4: TECHNOLOGY
national critical infrastructure, and the stakes become a lot higher than hacked
cell phone photos or our address books.”74
The experts to whom we spoke told us that if one government can gain access through
a door, so can other governments and private actors. Sooner or later the existence
and knowledge of how to exploit such flaws will be discovered via research,
serendipity, bribery or coercion. An increasing number of companies – including for
example Microsoft, Google and Adobe - offer significant rewards programmes to
individual and companies who can identify weaknesses in their software.
4.55.
An alternative to back doors is the use by governments of hacking capabilities and
malware, often referred to as CNE. The idea is to exploit natural weaknesses in
subjects’ devices rather than increase security vulnerabilities via back doors.75
“Individualised solutions” was an approach put forward by FBI General Counsel
Caproni for that percentage of criminals that use sophisticated technologies.76 In
February 2015, the use of CNE in the UK was acknowledged by the publication of the
draft code of practice on interference with equipment [Draft Equipment Interference
Code].77
Quantum Computing
4.56.
Concern about the growing use of encryption has led to the search for ways to counter
the technology. The NSA is said to be carrying out research into building a quantum
computer,78 which would be able to break current encryption. Estimates as to when
the first quantum computer is likely to appear range from 5-20 years. In November
2014, the Government announced the creation of a national network of Quantum
Technology Hubs that will explore the properties of quantum mechanics as part of the
UK National Technologies Programme.79 However, designing quantum-resistant
cryptography is a “difficult task”, according to the Communications- Electronics
Security Group based at GCHQ.80
Steganography
4.57.
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
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In addition to encryption software, software exists which allows messages to be hidden
in images, a process called steganography. Camouflage is one such software
programme. It hides files by scrambling them and attaching them to a cover file, which
acts as a carrier for the secret file. A United Nations Report from 2012 describes how
members of the Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party Front used Camouflage to
hide data within images in JPEG and graphics interchange format files.81 Professor
J. Vagle and M. Blaze, “Security “Front Doors” vs “Back Doors”: A Distinction Without a Difference”, Just
Security website, 17 October 2014.
Jonesing for Privacy, p. 540.
Ibid., p. 542.
See further 6.24-6.31 and 7.63-7.65 below.
“NSA seeks to build quantum computer that could crack most types of encryption”, Washington Post, 2
January 2014.
See the press release by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, on their website
at: http://www.epsrc.ac.uk/newsevents/news/quantumtechhubs/ .
P. Campbell and others, “Soliloquy: A Cautionary Tale”, (2014), available freely on the internet.
United Nation Office on Drugs and Crime, the Use of the Internet for Terrorist Purposes, (2012), p. 56.
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