FBI Failed To Break Encryption of Hard Drives

benoliver writes to let us know that the FBI has failed to decrypt files of a Brazilian banker accused of financial crimes by Brazilian law enforcement, after a year of attempts. Five hard drives were seized by federal police at the apartment of banker Daniel Dantas, in Rio de Janeiro, during Operation Satyagraha in July 2008. (The link is to a Google translation of the original article in Portuguese.) The article in English mentions two encryption programs, one Truecrypt and the other unnamed. 256-bit AES was used, and apparently both the Brazilian police and the FBI tried dictionary attacks against it. No Brazilian law exists to force Dantas to produce the password(s).

Comments

Re:is waterboarding next to get the info?

[Pharmboy]

That is fine and dandy, but they will just usually do illegal searches, knowing the courts will just throw them out later. Sometimes they get lucky and the courts don't throw them out. Either way is fine, as the goal was to simply get the information. This is particularly true with drug or terrorism cases. It is rare to immunize someone, as even then the person wouldn't comply, from fear of being killed by higher ups in the drug trade, or because they are terrorists and don't care about cooperating or the costs.

Re:"Same in America"

[calyphus]

Opened your mouth, uttered a Palin, now we know you don't know what you're talking about and give you no credence. (check a map next time)