{"id":3572,"date":"2020-10-03T03:12:28","date_gmt":"2020-10-03T11:12:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cheapsslsecurity.com\/blog\/?p=3572"},"modified":"2021-02-26T11:32:44","modified_gmt":"2021-02-26T19:32:44","slug":"why-weakening-internet-encryption-wont-stop-terrorism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cheapsslsecurity.com\/blog\/why-weakening-internet-encryption-wont-stop-terrorism\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Weakening Internet Encryption Won\u2019t Stop Terrorism"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Encryption backdoors may actually help terrorists instead of stopping them<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

What\u2019s common amongst UK, US, Australia, Germany and almost every country on the planet? They all don\u2019t like Encryption. That\u2019s why we see repeated (and absurd) calls to curb Encryption in the name of stopping terrorism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Seriously, that cassette has been played so many times that we\u2019ve lost the count. London attack, Westminster bridge attack, San Bernardino attack, Paris attack\u2026we could go all day. Every single one of these attacks prompted attacks on technology from politicians. Some of them were just empty words whereas some took it too far. But the point is \u2013 it\u2019s outright unwise and impractical to create encryption backdoors. Period.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is no denying that the terrorists shouldn\u2019t be afforded a place to hide \u2013 whether it\u2019s physical or virtual. But do encrypted apps like WhatsApp really provide \u201csafe places\u201d to the terrorists? Absolutely not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"backdoor<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Backdoors are a BAD idea<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

For quite some time now, politicians have been crying out for backdoors. Basically, what they want is to read the messages sent\/received by the terrorists (and everyone else). As appealing as it sounds, it\u2019s an unwaveringly bad idea. Let\u2019s assume for a second that the government now has access to a backdoor in WhatsApp. What would terrorists do? Would they continue communicating through WhatsApp? Of course not. They are stupid but they\u2019re not that stupid. What they would do is they would use some less-popular open-source encrypted app and the tale continues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now you might say \u2018But this was for just one app. What if the government passes a bill and brings every other app under the hood of backdoors?\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Again, STUPID!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The thing about backdoors is that it\u2019s not possible to create a backdoor that only the government could access. If any hacker or an ill-intended person, or a terrorist group itself, get through that backdoor we\u2019re all screwed. Big time. Super-sensitive and confidential information such as passwords, credit card details, email ids, social security numbers\u2026pretty much everything online could be put at a tremendous amount of risk. It\u2019d be like handing over a master key to everything \u2013 something that every hacker dreams about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do we really need to give such a huge incentive to hackers around the world?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Backdoors may backfire<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

End-to-end encryption is designed in such a way that nobody, not even Jan Koum, the CEO of WhatsApp can read the messages if he wishes to. However, there is a catch. Apparently, there’s a thing called \u2018metadata’ that shows who sent the message to whom and it isn\u2019t usually encrypted. This could prove to be highly instrumental as far as tracking terrorist activity is concerned. If terrorists use a service that doesn\u2019t share metadata the government would have even less information than what it has right now. If such motion is made, it may well turn out to be one of the greatest backfiring moves ever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Concluding Thoughts<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

We\u2019d like to conclude this blog by two of the most famous lines said ever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018With great power, comes greater responsibility.\u2019<\/p>

\u2018Be careful what you wish for.\u2019<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Encryption backdoors may actually help terrorists instead of stopping them What\u2019s common amongst UK, US, Australia, Germany and almost every country on the planet? They all don\u2019t like Encryption. That\u2019s why we see repeated (and absurd) calls to curb Encryption in the name of stopping terrorism. Seriously, that cassette has been played so many times<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":6547,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[419,418],"tags":[318],"class_list":["post-3572","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-email-security","category-news-research","tag-encryption"],"yoast_head":"\nWhy Weakening Internet Encryption Won\u2019t Stop Terrorism<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Internet and Encryption have become scapegoats once a terrorist attack takes place anywhere. 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