The NSA's Backdoor in Dual EC
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The NSA's Backdoor in Dual EC
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Re: The NSA's Backdoor in Dual EC
#2Re: The NSA's Backdoor in Dual EC
#3> the field is called computer security; not computer optimism
I'd like to go even further and propose the following terms:
* computer wishful thinking
* security by credulity
* zero-skepticism proofRe: The NSA's Backdoor in Dual EC
#4Calling out the cryptographic community on this has always resulted in becoming tarred & feathered in my experience. "How dare you question these experts? You are not a cryptographer."
No, I am not. But, I understand information theory and people. I don't need an ivory tower credential to call out potential bullshit or leverage my own intuition.
This kind of nonsense also makes me wonder how many of those "dont roll your own crypto" people are intentionally pushing developers towards these state-sponsored libraries & methods.
Re: The NSA's Backdoor in Dual EC
#5> Members of a hacking group linked to the Chinese government called APT 5 hijacked the NSA algorithm in 2012, according to two people involved with Juniper’s investigation and an internal document detailing its findings that Bloomberg reviewed. The hackers altered the algorithm so they could decipher encrypted data flowing through the virtual private network connections created by NetScreen devices. They returned in 2014 and added a separate backdoor that allowed them to directly access NetScreen products, according to the people and the document.
Can we have more technical details regarding this? I guess some heavy math (number theory) is involved here but really intrigued how it was developed.
Re: The NSA's Backdoor in Dual EC
#6> Members of a hacking group linked to the Chinese government called APT 5 hijacked the NSA algorithm in 2012, according to two people involved with Juniper’s investigation and an internal document detailing its findings that Bloomberg reviewed. The hackers altered the algorithm so they could decipher encrypted data flowing through the virtual private network connections created by NetScreen devices. They returned in…
Computerphile[1] did a video about the specifics of the backdoor in Dual EC DRBG.
As i understand it, the hackers replaced a magic number Q with a different value than the standards compliant one, where they had pre-computed P.
Re: The NSA's Backdoor in Dual EC
#7The entire concept of a backdoor that only the good guys have the keys too is so moroinic as to make my blood boil. The TSA locks were picked because a photo of the keys were posted online. The NSA forced an encryption method that they knew how to defeat got pwned. Yet the backdoor method still gets bandied about like it's the one thing to save us when it is exactly what will sink us.
Re: The NSA's Backdoor in Dual EC
#8I don't understand the significance of the Dual EC vulnerabilities here. The attackers had write access to the target's crypto code, and altered it to their convenience. What cryptosystem is secure against that threat model?
That the "re-keying" edit fits in 32 bytes is a neat math trick, but doesn't seem to me like a central issue. What am I misunderstanding?
>"In practice this would simply mean hacking into a major firewall manufacturer’s poorly-secured source code repository, changing 32 bytes of data, and then waiting for the windfall when a huge number of VPN connections suddenly became easy to decrypt. And that’s what happened. 10/"
Re: The NSA's Backdoor in Dual EC
#9> Members of a hacking group linked to the Chinese government called APT 5 hijacked the NSA algorithm in 2012, according to two people involved with Juniper’s investigation and an internal document detailing its findings that Bloomberg reviewed. The hackers altered the algorithm so they could decipher encrypted data flowing through the virtual private network connections created by NetScreen devices. They returned in…
APT 5 hacked into Juniper and replaced an input parameter to the Dual EC PRNG that was backdoored by the NSA with one that was backdoored by them.
https://dl.acm.org/doi/pdf/10.1145/3266291 goes into it in some detail
Re: The NSA's Backdoor in Dual EC
#10Calling out the cryptographic community on this has always resulted in becoming tarred & feathered in my experience. "How dare you question these experts? You are not a cryptographer." No, I am not. But, I understand information theory and people. I don't need an ivory tower credential to call out potential bullshit or leverage my own intuition. This kind of nonsense also makes me wonder how many of those "dont roll…
Then you my friend are free to roll your own crypto