Cryptographers Challenge FBI’s Mobile Proposals

July 8, 2015 at 12:56 pm By

It’s looking progressively worst when it comes to privacy and security in the U.S. especially for mobile users. According to a new report, the Federal Bureau of Investigation might be looking into making proposals that would put every mobile device and their chat history in danger.

The U.S. government just lost highly classified security-clearance data to foreign hackers. Do Americans really want to trust Washington with the keys to their text messages?” questioned Danny Yadron in a Wall Street Journal Blog Post.

He reported that cryptographers are arguing against giving the FBI the power to unlock every iPhone and decipher WhatsApp messages. They believe that it would be exposing consumers and businesses to data breaches according to the article.

These proposals are unworkable in practice, raise enormous legal and ethical questions, and would undo progress on security at a time when Internet vulnerabilities are causing extreme economic harm,” the cryptographers write, according to the Wall Street Journal post. 

Being able to have your cell phone hacked could lead to serious ethical questions as it is a huge invasion of privacy for those who keep personal information on their devices. Furthermore, it makes consumers and businesses vulnerable to an attack such as the recent hack that lead to the U.S. government’s loss of highly classified security-clearance data to foreign hackers.

“For the tech community, it’s a rebuttal, long in the works, to FBI Director James Comey’s ongoing efforts to give law-enforcement authorities greater access to encrypted communications,” said Yadron.

“The 14 authors include security luminaries such as Matthew Green, a professor at Johns Hopkins University; Bruce Schneier, a fellow at Harvard Law School; and Whitfield “Whit” Diffie, who helped invent modern encryption.”

Yadron says that Comey plans to take his case to a congressional panel on July 8.

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