Putin Gives Federal Security Agents Two Weeks To Produce 'Encryption Keys' For The Internet (gawker.com)

An anonymous reader writes: The President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin, has ordered the Federal Security Service (FSB) to produce "encryption keys" to decrypt all data on the internet, and the FSB has two weeks to do it, Meduza reports. The head of the FSB, Alexander Bortnikov, is responsible for accomplishing such a task. "The new 'anti-terrorist' laws require all 'organizers of information distribution' that add 'additional coding' to transmitted electronic messages to provide the FSB with any information necessary to decrypt those messages," reports Meduza. "It's still unclear what information exactly online resources are expected to turn over, given that all data on the internet is encoded, one way or another, and in many instances encryption keys for encrypted information simply don't exist." Some of the details of the executive order include requiring telecom providers and "organizers of information distribution" to store copies of the content of all information they transmit for six months and store the metadata for three years so the Kremlin can access it whenever they want. In order for that to happen, ISPs would need to build new data centers capable of holding all that information and buy imported equipment, all without state subsidies, where they risk going bankrupt. To actually operate the data centers, the Russian government would need to upgrade Russia's outdated electrical grid and cables, which could cost between $30 and $77 billion. What about the "encryption keys?" In addition to storing all the transmitted information, "organizers of information distribution" have to turn over "any information necessary to decrypt those messages." Therefore, "additional coding" will need to be added to all electronic messages to act as instructions for the FSB to "decode" them. Many services and websites don't have "keys" or are fundamentally unsharable, like banks and financial institutions. Nearly all electronic information needs to be "encoded" in some way. Bortnikov has two weeks and the clock starts now. Good luck!

Comments

I asked you to kill superman,

[Anonymous Coward]

and you can't do that one, simple thing.

Re:I asked you to kill superman,

[K. S. Kyosuke]

You've just hinted at the one thing to do here: it's popcorn time! ;)

Re:I asked you to kill superman,

[DemoLiter3]

Simple - they will hire Chuck Norris for the job.

Re:I asked you to kill superman,

[Anonymous Coward]

Superman? This is the Internet. It's more like announcing that all cats in Russia will be herded into a single pen located at the FSB. They don't have the pen built, they don't know where all the cats are or how many of them there are, and the cats are unlikely to be cooperative.

Get it done in 2 weeks.

Re: I asked you to kill superman,

[Anonymous Coward]

Oh yeah, and most of the cats are invisible...haha

Please pass the popcorn.

Re: I asked you to kill superman,

[Anonymous Coward]

https://youtu.be/6DGNZnfKYnU

A strange game.The only winning move is not to play. How about a nice game of chess?

Re:I asked you to kill superman,

[I'm New Around Here]

I still feel sorry for the rattlesnake that bit him. Horrible way for a creature to die.

Re: I asked you to kill superman,

[I'm New Around Here]

Just because you've never seen pussy ....

Re:I asked you to kill superman,

[Anonymous Coward]

Can't we use a better exemple? Superman you can a least use kriptonite. Better if one those heroes that beyond being hard to kill, keep returning from dead or keep fighting even if dead. Like Goku.

Re: I asked you to kill superman,

[Anonymous Coward]

LOL, got em.

He ain't seen pussy since pussy seen him.

Re:I asked you to kill superman,

[cdrudge]

Technically the cat herding is theoretically possible. Highly improbable, but could be done. Decrypting all information on the internet is impossible in an infinite amount of time, let alone 2 weeks.

Re: I asked you to kill superman,

[WarJolt]

Russia can always resort to the nuclear option. Blow up all the cats and take the cities with it.

Re:I asked you to kill superman,

[rubycodez]

Superman and Chuck Norris once had a fight, and the loser had to wear his underwear outside his pants

Re:I asked you to kill superman,

[Anonymous Coward]

Chuck Norris can decrypt the Internet without using keys!

Re:I asked you to kill superman,

[Anonymous Coward]

Fucking retards, even the Americans aren't this dumb.

Re: I asked you to kill superman,

[Anonymous Coward]

Chuck Norris is the key!

Re: I asked you to kill superman,

[Anonymous Coward]

No I'm doesn't

Re:I asked you to kill superman,

[wvmarle]

To make matters worse, before finding them, they probably don't even know whether the cats are dead or alive.

Might as well order them to produce cold fusion

[Anonymous Coward]

There is no such thing as keys that would decrypt "all data on the internet", which hopefully everyone here already knows. Empty, dead, pointless parody of law. The war on encryption is doomed to fail

Re:Might as well order them to produce cold fusion

[Maritz]

It'll be fun to watch this one. Dear Leader gets everything he wants, but I think this time he's asked for something that cannot be provided.

Re:Might as well order them to produce cold fusion

[Anonymous Coward]

It's neither empty, dead, nor pointless. It justifies any and all warantless exploration of communication from 2 weeks until eternity, and provides a legal means for any telecoms operator to be required to install anything that the government instructs, whenever. And it's pretext to outlaw new encryption methods.

Re:Might as well order them to produce cold fusion

[Anonymous Brave Guy]

Empty, dead, pointless parody of law.

I might feel better about that if my own government and those of many of our Western allies weren't trying to do essentially the same thing, also with a perfectly straight face.

Re:Might as well order them to produce cold fusion

[Anonymous Coward]

So how many FSB directors are going to get the Kim-Jun-Un treatment when they fail to perform?

Re:Might as well order them to produce cold fusion

[NatasRevol]

Maybe if all ISPs in Russia are required to do this, it will be done.

I'm thinking that this will really reduce foreign investment in Russia. And business & the economy will take a direct hit over the next several years.

Re:Might as well order them to produce cold fusion

[JaredOfEuropa]

A solid economy is certainly not Putin's first concern. Perhaps the contrary: despots do not thrive in problem-free states.

Re:Might as well order them to produce cold fusion

[MightyMartian]

Perhaps any private key stores in the hands of ISPs or other Russian services may end up in the Russian government's hands. But what about all the self-signed communications, or communications signed by keys external to Russia?

One wonders whether this is just an attempt at a bluff, as in "We'll find your secret communications, Comrade!" or whether Putin and his advisers are is ignorant of the underlying mathematics and technology as so many governments in the West are? On the face of it, whoever wrote this law has absolutely no fucking idea how encryption works on the Internet.

Re:Might as well order them to produce cold fusion

[niftymitch]

There is no such thing as keys that would decrypt "all data on the internet", which hopefully everyone here already knows. Empty, dead, pointless parody of law. The war on encryption is doomed to fail

Are you sure?:

0000000 90e4 781a 3c0a f245 1c28 4910 6394 1c84
0000020 8ce8 da59 fffe 5993 4499 19c6 5e3e 405f
0000040 c2d8 83bf f249 e9be 3b4a 68d3 2355 b2ce
0000060 4a6e 17a4 b1d7 92a7 0503 0e1e 1c22 6215
0000100 7709 e0ea 5b76 382a e59f 4a00 d9fd 0e85
0000120 41e1 9080 7f36 01c4 449f b7c4 b31e 2f38
0000140 953a a04f f4df 3f7b b47f 4097 5a88 7339
0000160 d83a a41f 9d5b 9007 01f4 bff0 a1ed 22e6
0000200 85a3 d75f 35a5 cfdb 37ed 9c51 1d48 b6d7
0000220 bfd5 f9e4 b931 d71f 728c 0b9f b71c 84d9
0000240 d798 0397 3793 4faf b727 b0a7 3b2d e9d3
0000260 ff88 21ec ba57 072d 3e10 37f1 fbc2 43d4
0000300 6c31 122e b22f 403c 247e eb7f 9a4e 1c2b
0000320 0b77 1b31 dcb4 354d f363 d573 205a 2d1f
0000340 e09c 0977 4578 0037 79ee ead1 9ec6 65ef
0000360 4912 8127 fff8 2cf7 6d96 76db 5c7c e582
0000400 4ee4 7be0 521f e9a4 d6de d146 7440 7c2f
0000420 1466 d267 658e a8d0 d1c0 d5dd 34ec 56b7
0000440 3039 8d5a e1f1 9f0e a456 6e32 ef2c 043e
0000460 4bde 36f5 b78c fbc8 e42d e4e1 2bda 5a1d
0000500 751c e017 2573 7371 b2c3 4d5a d724 7254
0000520 e4c7 e22b 21ce 071f efe5 d644 cab0 4a5f
0000540 8e3f 150a 54e0 fa6c d7ce f430 a733 9390
0000560 a999 4e80 aabd 746c ad75 1e4c 76c0 05cf
0000600 6559 9dcb 233c b5a7 9e8e 1e43 8dbf 818f
0000620 bf97 934d 097e 2942 261f 4440 41ee 0057
0000640 018d c2bc f50a 8b7a 5575 7e8a ff6b 9bec
0000660 a23d e045 a3c5 0606 80d3 e93c 8046 554c
0000700 5c5d d729 1245 4a3e 8dda e8b6 422b a5cf
0000720 4b05 31b0 63aa ff3c 54f9 2025 b1e7 d05a
0000740 0f8b 913f 7d7a f9a1 0f2a 1ff1 466b ce0f
0000760 9b8f b86c bd15 3157 a406 e096 72ff 157c

Re:Might as well order them to produce cold fusion

[macs4all]

Perhaps any private key stores in the hands of ISPs or other Russian services may end up in the Russian government's hands. But what about all the self-signed communications, or communications signed by keys external to Russia?

One wonders whether this is just an attempt at a bluff, as in "We'll find your secret communications, Comrade!" or whether Putin and his advisers are is ignorant of the underlying mathematics and technology as so many governments in the West are? On the face of it, whoever wrote this law has absolutely no fucking idea how encryption works on the Internet.

I would bet the latter.

It's actually kind of refreshing to see a leader of a (former) SuperPower that is even more ignorant of technology than our own homegrown Overlords in the U.S.

Re:Might as well order them to produce cold fusion

[crashumbc]

lol, is that the blueray or dvd master key that was going around a couple years ago?

Re:Might as well order them to produce cold fusion

[Hevel-Varik]

It's inconceivable that Russian Intelligence is ignorant of the realities of encryption or of the internets' infrastructure. My assumption is this is concrete message to anybody in the space that they are expected to do whatever they can, meaning to pro-actively implement the appropriate infrastructural back doors into their systems to allow for data exposure upon demand. It doesn't have to be very well defined to change the status quo. Corporate Russia will figure out how to orient itself into compliance with the Kremlin. And corporate America won't die on this hill. If your aim is to decrease privacy in your domain of control, this makes a lot of sense.

Re:Might as well order them to produce cold fusion

[gtall]

It isn't important that it be done, it is important that it is said to be done. It will happen like everything else in Russia, half-assed and boneheaded. That's not what Tsar Putin will hear though. He will hear, "'tis a wonder and increaseth growth, verily the West will cower to our enlarged secure internet". The Tsar will declare to the Russian people they are now even better protected than they were before from Western conspiracies designed to lay waste the Soviet...errr...Russian people.

For once I'd like to see the Western leaders issue a proclamation that there's nothing in Russia that the West wants to own, Russia doesn't really count in the world, and would they please stop banging on about size of their missiles.

Re:Might as well order them to produce cold fusion

[gtall]

Come now. If Trump wins, he'll put Putin to shame on how dumb a Western leader can actually be.

Re:Might as well order them to produce cold fusion

[SuricouRaven]

No, far too many bytes. I've not tried to decode it, but can tell you at a glance that it isn't ASCII or UTF8 English text.

Re:Might as well order them to produce cold fusion

[macs4all]

Come now. If Trump wins, he'll put Putin to shame on how dumb a Western leader can actually be.

You could be right on that one.

Re:Might as well order them to produce cold fusion

[Anonymous Coward]

I think we are being incredibly stupid ourselves thinking that Putin's actions over the past several years is dumb. He is anything but stupid and has played the western nations for fools over and over. Our leadership needs to wake up and realize that peace in the region is not Putin's end game.

Re:Might as well order them to produce cold fusion

[nitehawk214]

The USA has to be #1 in everything. Especially stupid leaders!

Re:Might as well order them to produce cold fusion

[kheldan]

I would tend to agree with you, friend. I read so many comments in this discussion attributing so many Machiavellian plots and motivations to Putin's actions, but I too think the simplest explanation is the most likely correct explanation: Putin has no clue how encryption really works, has no idea how the Internet really works, and thinks he can just snap his fingers and get what he wants. For starters he'd have to disconnect Russia and the territories it controls from the rest of the Internet, permanently, since he can't dictate what anyone outside of that defined area is doing. Then he'd have to stop use of all encryption inside his Walled Garden, substituting some severely weakened version that government types could easily decrypt -- which naturally would be easy for criminals to decrypt, too, since there is so much corruption in Russia, organized crime there would have the ability to do so about as soon as the government. In the end Putin may as well just outlaw the Internet entirely within Russia, it would actually be possible, and less painful than what he wants done.

Re:Might as well order them to produce cold fusion

[friedmud]

Considering that essentially all of the politicians in Russia have fake PhDs ( http://www.slate.com/articles/... ) I would say that it's fairly likely that they have no idea how the Internet or mathematics or economics or really anything works...

Re:Might as well order them to produce cold fusion

[Jason Levine]

We'll have the best stupid leaders! The Best! You'll never believe how stupid our leaders will be. You'll ask if we can get leaders any stupider and I'll say No because we'll have the stupidest leaders ever!

Re:Might as well order them to produce cold fusion

[bev_tech_rob]

Sure there is! What about that little black box from the movie 'Sneakers'? It could decrypt anything!

Get Robert Redford on the phone!

Re:Might as well order them to produce cold fusion

[Gr8Apes]

More likely this provides a simple list of potential future arrestees. I wouldn't be surprised if an official Russian browser comes out, along with a few chat clients, etc, that if you don't use those... well....How is the gulag treating you, comrade?

Re:Might as well order them to produce cold fusion

[NatasRevol]

Our leaders are aware of that.

They're also aware that THAT region is not our region.

And we need to stop being the world's police.

Re:Might as well order them to produce cold fusion

[Darinbob]

Your leader is so dumb you can get change back when you give him a penny for his thoughts.

Re:Might as well order them to produce cold fusion

[Coren22]

An end to the Russian hacker meme? They won't be able to deny knowledge of the bad actors anymore.

Also, I look forward to the first time this is used against a politician.

Re:Might as well order them to produce cold fusion

[Coren22]

For once I'd like to see the Western leaders issue a proclamation that there's nothing in Russia that the West wants to own, Russia doesn't really count in the world, and would they please stop banging on about size of their missiles.

It wouldn't work, they would just claim it was a conspiracy to make them complacent so that we can conquer them.

Re:Might as well order them to produce cold fusion

[Anonymous Coward]

It'll reduce more than just foreign investment; it'll seriously cripple their economy.

"And remember to leave the bank vault open in case we need to inspect."

Re:Might as well order them to produce cold fusion

[Anonymous Coward]

The USA has to be #1 in everything. Especially stupid leaders!

The word here in Australia is that Trump is getting so much support because we elected Tony Abbott (knocking Dubya off top spot), and you want to that #1 spot back again ...

Re:Might as well order them to produce cold fusion

[Anonymous Coward]

A solid economy is certainly not Putin's first concern.

He cannot ignore it, that was one of the principal mistakes of the Soviet Union as he of all people should know well. The military might of super powers rests upon the foundation of gross domestic product or as Bill Clinton put it, "It's the economy, stupid."

Re:Might as well order them to produce cold fusion

[dolmen.fr]

We have the key. The algorithm to use it is left as an exercise to the reader.

Re:Might as well order them to produce cold fusion

[oreaq]

Yeah, they just have to go with anti-Kerckhoff encryption. The security of encryption may only depend on the obscurity of the algorithm, not on the secrecy of the key.

Sounds like a personal thing to me.

[Mal-2]

I think Putin knows full well that this task is not achievable, but wants to use it to shove someone out of their job in disgrace. I guess we'll find out who that is soon enough.

Re:Sounds like a personal thing to me.

[mysidia]

After they fail, their next step is to say "See, this cannot be done", And Ban all cryptography.

Re:Sounds like a personal thing to me.

[bsDaemon]

What was the old saying in Tsarist Russia? Something like, "If 5 people get together to plot revolution, what you have is one revolutionary and four police informants." We are not talking about a country that has ever really been free since the earliest Viking settlements in places like Moscow. Hundreds of years of autocracy or oligarchy. What else would they produce politically but Putin and an encryption ban?

Re:Sounds like a personal thing to me.

[JaredOfEuropa]

That reminds me of the recent efforts to infiltrate extreme right-wing groups in Germany: at some point there were so many agents and so many agencies involved that no one could be sure anymore who was an agent and who wasn't.

Re:Sounds like a personal thing to me.

[AchilleTalon]

Why? He can simply fire him and that's all. There is no need for this mascarade.

Re:Sounds like a personal thing to me.

[MightyMartian]

This sort of thing backfired on Germany before. After all, one Adolf Hitler was employed by the German security services to infiltrate a certain of far right extremists, and the rest, shall we say, was history.

Re:Sounds like a personal thing to me.

[Anonymous Coward]

Seems like I've heard of that guy. By reputation, he was a real jerk.

Re:Sounds like a personal thing to me.

[macs4all]

I think Putin knows full well that this task is not achievable, but wants to use it to shove someone out of their job in disgrace. I guess we'll find out who that is soon enough.

Oh, like he NEEDS an excuse?

No, sorry. I think Putin really is that ignorant and megalomaniacal.

Re:Sounds like a personal thing to me.

[spidey3]

The intent is not to actually make anything accessible, or to change the leadership at FSB.
The intent is to create a regime by which anyone actually using the internet to do much of anything is vulnerable to persecution or arrest.

Re:Sounds like a personal thing to me.

[mrbester]

Maybe he just watched Sneakers and thought it was a documentary...

Re:Sounds like a personal thing to me.

[Opportunist]

Banning encryption is useless, unless you plan to ban ALL information transmission. As long as you allow me to transport any information, I can easily find a way to transmit hidden messages.

And trust me, Russians are GREAT at that. They have a long, long history of censorship and circumventing it.

Re:Sounds like a personal thing to me.

[Anonymous Coward]

No, Putin finally got around to watching Sneakers and took it as a documentary since it had Ben Kingsley in it.

Re:Sounds like a personal thing to me.

[Zontar The Mindless]

Samizdat... on the Internet!

Re:Sounds like a personal thing to me.

[I'm New Around Here]

Or Hackers, and thinks all data is in 3-D columns in those computer cases.

Re:Sounds like a personal thing to me.

[Anonymous Coward]

Well, yeah.

But, maaaan, could he barbeque!

Re:Sounds like a personal thing to me.

[mysidia]

I can easily find a way to transmit hidden messages.

But WILL you? With the knowledge that they have snoops looking for them, and if it eventually comes to light you sent even one hidden message, you're going to the Gulag for the rest of your days?

Re:Sounds like a personal thing to me.

[Fnord666]

Oh, like he NEEDS an excuse?

No, he just doesn't want to have to pay unemployment so he has to fire the guy with cause.

Re:Sounds like a personal thing to me.

[superwiz]

Unless he doesn't fire him. And claims that the goal has been accomplished. Because he won't reveal how he "achieved" the goal, he will undermine (at least to some degree) public trust in encryption. It is hard to say, at this point, what his aims are. But it is definitely a high-stake poker game now.

Re:Sounds like a personal thing to me.

[superwiz]

The intent is to create a regime by which anyone actually using the internet to do much of anything is vulnerable to persecution or arrest.

In RF everyone is already subject to arrest without cause.

Re:Sounds like a personal thing to me.

[Opportunist]

Russians are tough mofos, they have been telling KGB jokes during the Soviet times. Flirting with a 25 year vacation behind the mountains is a widely practiced Russian pastime.

Re:Sounds like a personal thing to me.

[rtb61]

It sounds like they are trying to copy what the NSA are doing but on the cheap. Rather that hacking all the internet infrastructure and simply stealing that data, the Russian government want the ISPs to do it all for them. However it seems the law as implemented (tricky no English translation to be readily found), need not necessarily be applied. So the authorities can pick and choose which ISPs will be forced to apply those laws and basically give up and shut down and which ISPs can ignore them and the associated costs. It seems like they might be actively looking to cut down on the number of ISPs and they will also be able to selectively punish uncooperative ISPs.

Re:Sounds like a personal thing to me.

[fnj]

Adolf Hitler was employed by the German security services to infiltrate a certain of far right extremists

This sarcasm thing: you're no good at it. You're also no good at proofreading.

Re:Sounds like a personal thing to me.

[Anonymous Coward]

Nope. Russian saying is: "One ukrainian is a guerilla warrior. Two ukrainians are guerilla unit. Three ukrainians are guerilla unit and a traitor". Nothing about revolution.

Re:Sounds like a personal thing to me.

[Cthulhu's Physicist]

In Soviet Russia, Big Data encrypts you!

Re:Sounds like a personal thing to me.

[Anonymous Coward]

Why? He can simply fire him and that's all. There is no need for this mascarade.

Putin and his agents are effectively above the law in Russia. I suspect that he could have just about anyone he wanted killed, never mind fired. However, that's not the point. Russia is a large country and even large countries have resource limitations. No dictator, Putin included, can monitor everyone directly all of the time so how best to control the population? In a word, fear. These laws enhance the power of the state and strike fear into the heart of every citizen. In effect the citizens are so terrified of what the government might know about them and what might happen when they're caught that they self-police and censor themselves.

So basically...

[Anonymous Coward]

Bortnikov has 2 weeks to live.

2 weeks later

[Nidi62]

Contents of Official FSB Decryption kit:

Wrench

One way train ticket to Siberia

Re:2 weeks later

[Fire_Wraith]

Obligatory XKCD: https://xkcd.com/538/

Re:2 weeks later

[rgbatduke]

Which is the "official and legal" way to obtain access to encrypted information in the US. The "wrench" is called a "subpoena" or a "warrant" issued by a judge for probable cause, combined with an unbounded eternity in jail for contempt of court until you cough up the keys. Yes, you can be in prison for life without even having a trial for ongoing contempt of court. Every day is a new offense and another day in jail.

I'm even reasonably comfortable with that. At least there is some sort of due process with a nod to the constitution and the rights of citizens. The PROBLEM is all of these agencies that want to just be able to browse all the files in existence looking for trouble, or decrypt any file they want (or any phone or laptop they want) without going through the constitutionally mandated process of obtaining a warrant etc to use as a wrench. I don't think they have any clue as to the computational implausibility of what they are asking, as well. I'm personally good for a few hundred GB of data -- call it a TB. Some of that goes over the internet, encrypted, every day. Just to send or receive it at 200 Mbps (premium service) often takes me an hour or two. Now multiply.

The only way to accomplish their goal is to build a powerful AI agent into every operating system in the world that monitors every single byte typed or saved or displayed on a system, the ultimate electronic big brother. Then network the whole thing together into a nation-spanning compute cluster with hierarchical decisioning at all levels. Because categorizing the human interpretive MEANING of any given content is much more computationally intensive than moving the bytes around (it requires our enormously complex human brains to do it) we can anticipate that every laptop and desktop and server would need to devote at least 90% of its resources to bigbrotherd operation. And bigbrotherd hooks would have to be built into the hardware, or it would be too easy to write kernels without it, or with a bigbrotherd that runs in a sandbox to make the global network happy but leaves the user the actual system running free and clear, especially with open source OS's in abundance that cannot easily be controlled.

And this will all happen approximately when hell freezes over. So don't worry about it! In Putin's Russia, keys encrypt you!

rgb

Re:2 weeks later

[Anonymous Coward]

That is because many slashdotters idea of security is to encrypt the harddrive and leave the wallet next to it.

Re:2 weeks later

[Anonymous Coward]

Contents of Official FSB Decryption kit:

Wrench

One way train ticket to Siberia

Yup, pretty much. Notions of privacy in your communications are what are silly in the face of state sanctioned force and threat of violence. Unless you are managing your encryption keys off-line then anyone with sufficient control of the communications infrastructure and sufficient motivation can intercept your communications.

Re:2 weeks later

[Opportunist]

Mother Russia always been good with low tech answer to high tech problem. MIR kept in orbit long time with duct tape. When was available. Often just kept together by underpants. When was available.

Re:2 weeks later

[cliffjumper222]

If the government does not actually know what is on the encrypted device, then plead the 5th Amendment.

Re:2 weeks later

[cryptogranny]

by the way... in russia we usually don't say "wrench" in a context like this, we say "soldering iron". FSB would used a hot soldering iron.:)

Re:2 weeks later

[rgbatduke]

But that doesn't work if they have probable cause to search it, any more than saying "sorry, you can't come in just now" works if they have a warrant to search your house. The constitution only protects against UNREASONABLE search and seizure, and the historical definition of this has been "enough to convince a judge to issue a warrant". So you can plead anything you want, but you'll stay in jail until you cough up the keys, be they keys to your house or to your encrypted phone or laptop. I learned this, BTW, directly from FBI agents at a crypto conference I attended many years ago, where the rest of the discussion centered on cracking. The feeb was a lot less concerned -- then -- with cracking encryption than you might have thought, simply because they already had adequate eternajail means to gain access in cases with probable cause. This might even have been pre-9/11 -- since then they have clearly come to see the importance of being able to crack things even when somebody is CONTENT to sit in jail forever relative to what would happen if a file were decrypted, or to be able to crack the encrypted files of dead terrorists in the aftermath of events.

Note that Ithe above is not commenting on what is or isn't good or just or right here. Only that there is a constitutionally approved and commonly enough used way to mandate access to encrypted files, and it doesn't involve NSA-level resources or techno-spooks or back doors into encryption routines. It involves getting a warrant. To comment NOW -- that's by far the way I'd prefer it. A warrant or court order at least gives you some chance to defend yourself -- probably not invoking the fifth, but perhaps challenging the strength of the evidence used to get the court order. It is also done in the light of day. I think what a substantial fraction of the world is worried about is that Russia is regressing to where no court at all is required, no oversight, and where they might literally use a wrench -- or a testicle-taser -- to coerce the keys on demand.

One might worry about this in the United States as well. Or "by" the United States in places like Cuba. IMO both Trump and Clinton are perfectly willing to use non-constitutional means against perceived enemies or possible terrorists -- Clinton demonstrably so, Trump by his overblown jingoist rhetoric.

That's why I'm voting for Cthulhu. With Cthulhu you know where you stand. If elected, It promises to eat all of the enemies of the United States first, in some cases only a little bit at a time... Vote for Cthulhu: "No Lives Matter"

rgb

Gawker?

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm sure that headline is totally accurate, and there's nothing sensationalised in there...

Re:Gawker?

[Megol]

Yes smells like propaganda...

Putin is not stupid

[penguinoid]

So why is he pretending to be stupid?

Re:Putin is not stupid

[Feral Nerd]

So why is he pretending to be stupid?

Perhaps he's been in power too long and it's beginning to mess with his sanity like it happened to many other dictators before him?

Re:Putin is not stupid

[Anonymous Coward]

Many reasons:

-Trying to oust Bortnikov, for when he inevitably fails Putin has a reason to toss him or large parts of the FSB out.
-Justification for giving them (FSB) more funding or more powers to accomplish these goals (as a result of inability to accomplish goals with current resources).
-It could also be to create a large effort in the FSB with the rationale that the FSB will have no choice to resort to heavy handed tactics, which will them be targeted at institutions and/or ISP's that through "random coincidence" have slighted Putin somehow.

But yes, Putin is very smart--and also very shrewd.

Re:Putin is not stupid

[Anonymous Coward]

So why is he pretending to be stupid?

Storing vast quantities of internet traffic is certainly achievable. From all accounts it is apparently done in America, so you don't necessarily need to have individual ISPs do it, if you control the key nodes and send everything to your constantly expanding array of hard disks. I'm not sure how many days you could really manage, but if you do at least filter some known uninteresting streams, such as netflix, perhaps it would be significant.

After that you just basically need every key in key escrow. Sadly you could just replace the secure random number generator as the source with a web service run by the government. The system would still all be encrypted. The government would just have every key, and of course you can trust the government to use that responsibly, not get hacked, etc, etc.

Of course you would also, in real time have to try decrypting at least some of the data recorded using that key list, so you'd have to send keys to where all the nodes are, since otherwise you can't know if anyone is defying the government... None of this would work for individuals and such that ignore the law, but you could track them down and lock them up...

Do I think any of this nonsense is a good idea? Of course not. I'm just pointing out that declaring something impossible for something the size of a government is risky. They can throw a lot of money at the problem.

Re:Putin is not stupid

[AchilleTalon]

Perhaps because he is really stupid?

Re:Putin is not stupid

[DNS-and-BIND]

My theory: journalists are too stupid to report foreign affairs properly. We already saw how they were led around by the nose by Obama's staff for years, and reported government-approved narratives instead of facts. They are just deeply ignorant people who have no business being in the jobs they're in. Sad but true.

Re:Putin is not stupid

[jasper160]

He sounds like any manager or C-suite idiot who wants something that is not possible.

Re:Putin is not stupid

[hyades1]

Sorry, but you're 100% wrong. Mainstream news media have unfailingly supported the corporate viewpoint for years. The trend started when TV news brought the Vietnam War into America's living rooms, and the so-called "Silent Majority" turned on the corporate money machine and forced an end to that war. That would not be allowed to happen again. Concentration of ownership ensued, and we now have only a handful of major voices left...and they're all singing from the same songbook.

Anybody who believes ground-level journalists have any control over what they're allowed to report is utterly naive.

Re:Putin is not stupid

[macs4all]

So why is he pretending to be stupid?

Perhaps he's been in power too long and it's beginning to mess with his sanity like it happened to many other dictators before him?

Perhaps it's just the first symptoms of Polonium poisoning.

We can only hope.

Re:Putin is not stupid

[thegarbz]

Look at everything he does as a means to an end. Don't assume this is about encryption keys.

Re:Putin is not stupid

[Anonymous Coward]

He's not pretending. He's a very stupid person. The only knowledge he has is how to use weapons, kill people and control them with fear. He has no knowledge about anything else.

He's like Trump, Trump only knows how to grease palms to get things done. He doesn't know how to actually, truly run a business on the up and up. Putin, like Trump is an extremely stupid, unintelligent person. These two little boys who are acting big boy parts in big boy pants and positions have no business running anything of any remote importance.

Re:Putin is not stupid

[gtall]

He's not pretending.

Re:Putin is not stupid

[Anonymous Coward]

If it is so glaringly obvious that a random Slashdot coward immediately sees through it then how is it "very smart" and "shrewd?"

Re:Putin is not stupid

[Anonymous Coward]

You just validated the parent...

Re: Putin is not stupid

[Anonymous Coward]

They bought all the black storage boxes from the TV show Silicon Valley. Middle out, bitches!

Re:Putin is not stupid

[fnj]

And just how in the hell does that make him wrong?

Re:Putin is not stupid

[Anonymous Coward]

His knowledge is not isomorphic with your knowledge, he's a Machiavellian authoritarian who spent years as the head of the KGB during their espionage-as-Victorian-folly years.

It's possible he is as shrewd and intelligent as you think and yet still genuinely thinks that what is required is a bigger codebreaking wrench. Or any of the various reasons he could be feigning ignorance of how it really does work.

USA can't condemn this...

[Anonymous Coward]

Because Putin is using "terrorism" as the justification, the US Government finds itself in a place where it cannot criticize the Russians. I am surprised that it took them this long to cotton on to the use of "terrorism" as the easy way forward in big brother surveillence.

Lets just hope they don't start taking it for the corporations such as RIghts Corp, etc, that represent Hollywood & co.

The FSB will effectively say to companies like facebook, show us how to decrypt WhatsApp or WhatsApp is banned in Russia until you do.

Re:USA can't condemn this...

[Anonymous Coward]

Let them ban it, and any and all other software. They will just be cutting themselves out of the modern world, and their currency will fall further. Then it will be a market that nobody cares to tap.

Re:USA can't condemn this...

[AchilleTalon]

In case you missed it. What Putin is asking is simply impossible, even theoritically to do. So, no need to condemn anything here, beside Putin's own stupidity.

Re:USA can't condemn this...

[Opportunist]

Why would they condemn it? It's basically what they are dreaming of, too.

Re:USA can't condemn this...

[gweihir]

It is basically certain that Putin knows this is impossible. What is unclear is what his goals are in making such a demand.

typical gawker ignorance and misinformation

[sittingnut]

not that putin is a good guy. nor is his new law, and his orders based on that, good. he and it are evil things. though law at least is merely an attempt to give russian government same powers as usa government. definition of evil.

anyway this summary and gawker article exaggerate to absurdity in order to vilify russians in every way possible, and seems to assume total ignorance on the part of readers. (to be expected from gawker but not from /.).

there are much more knowledgeable and rational critiques of putin and his law elsewhere, /. should have posted using them.
but maybe instead of knowledgeable discussion, it is gawker like ignorant popularity that /. wants?

Re:typical gawker ignorance and misinformation

[Anonymous Coward]

"there are much more knowledgeable and rational critiques of putin and his law elsewhere, /. should have posted using them."

Yet here you are, critiquing /. but not giving us any new links yourself.

Re:typical gawker ignorance and misinformation

[Anonymous Coward]

Slashdot may as well be owned by Gawker at this point. I only keep coming here out of habit.

Re:typical gawker ignorance and misinformation

[Anonymous Coward]

It is always the same. Every time Russia do something ( later and copying the western countries ), the western media start demonizing Putin. Watch here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Internet_Restriction_Bill

After all the western media are a conglomerate. They are owned buy half a dozen oligarchs.

Re:typical gawker ignorance and misinformation

[Anonymous Coward]

Thank you for that insight Mr. Russian government troll. Do go on.

Re:typical gawker ignorance and misinformation

[Anonymous Coward]

Russia isn't evil. Russians aren't evil. Putin most certainly is. He's like a Russian Donald Trump.

Re:typical gawker ignorance and misinformation

[swillden]

Russia isn't evil. Russians aren't evil. Putin most certainly is. He's like a Russian Donald Trump.

Trump is America's answer to Putin. America cannot be outdone by Russia, so Trump is our strategy to out-Putin Putin.

Re:typical gawker ignorance and misinformation

[Anonymous Coward]

How nice! To cite a western elitist site like The Atlantic, with its long record of warmongering propaganda on behalf of a section of USA elite, to back up your anti Russian propaganda. GP may or may not a "Russian government troll"(uncertainty due to your not giving any specific reason for saying that), but by citing that website you label yourself as a trollish tool of USA warmongering elite, for certain.

Re:typical gawker ignorance and misinformation

[Anonymous Coward]

How nice! To cite a western elitist site like The Atlantic, with its long record of warmongering propaganda on behalf of a section of USA elite

Thank you for that insight, Mr. Russian Government troll. Do go on.

Perhaps if the Russians weren't so fucking PARANOID, people wouldn't dislike Russia so much. No one wants to invade you. Russia doesn't have to worry about "fascists" coming from Germany or the Ukraine. The reason Russia's neighbors joined or want to join NATO is because they are AFRAID of Russia invading them under some "Sudetenland" pretext, not because the "West" wants to conquer the shithole that is Russia.

Re:typical gawker ignorance and misinformation

[Anonymous Coward]

The reason Russia's neighbors joined or want to join NATO is because they are AFRAID of Russia invading them under some "Sudetenland" pretext, not because the "West" wants to conquer the shithole that is Russia.

This is 1000% correct and you are perhaps wise to post it as AC.

Re:typical gawker ignorance and misinformation

[Areyoukiddingme]

Trump is America's answer to Putin. America cannot be outdone by Russia, so Trump is our strategy to out-Putin Putin.

Dear God please no pictures of Trump with his shirt off.

Re:typical gawker ignorance and misinformation

[Anonymous Coward]

Thanks for proving my point. Be sure to lick Putin's asshole a few extra times on me.

Re:typical gawker ignorance and misinformation

[Anonymous Coward]

West has a long record of 'conquering' 'shitholes' and shitting on innocents and looting resources. And it is doing that at the moment in Iraq, Libya, Afganitan, etc etc.
So all who can defend against that (like Russia ) should be "PARANOID" if they are rational.

Now go back to sucking on western warmongering propaganda from sites like The Atlantic, and vomiting them back here, you ignorant idiot.

Re:typical gawker ignorance and misinformation

[Anonymous Coward]

The reason Russia's neighbors joined or want to join NATO is because they are AFRAID of Russia invading them under some "Sudetenland" pretext, not because the "West" wants to conquer the shithole that is Russia.

This is 1000% correct and you are perhaps wise to post it as AC.

I don't think GP has brains to get your sarcasm.

Re:typical gawker ignorance and misinformation

[Anonymous Coward]

Right, because Russia is an innocent, pacifist nation that has never invaded or conquered countries. Thank, Mr. Russian government shill for your insight.

Re:typical gawker ignorance and misinformation

[Anonymous Coward]

Um, *who* is paranoid? The US can't get enough war and its leaders conduct foreign policy according to a declaration that purports other countries want to eradicate Western leadership with genetically-targetted bioweapons (i.e. kill uppercrust white Europeans). Their remedy to this paranoid fantasy is the doctrine of US "full spectrum dominance" over the entire world's affairs, which the Democrats repackaged as "making the US the indispensable country" so that no country's elites can function without US policing.

Such phraseology coming out of Russia would probably have the rest of the world on defcon 1.

Re:typical gawker ignorance and misinformation

[Anonymous Coward]

You mean pictures like this one? That's the best one I could find.

murican propaganda?

[Anonymous Coward]

lol, obama and his goons are desperate to get back at putin for giving snowden safe haven

btw, isn't gawker those idiot americans who schooled by the hulkster? trolololololol

Putin the oppressive

[Anonymous Coward]

One should really ask what is Putin the all powerful so afraid of?

Autocrats gotta crat

[Thud457]

That's not how this works.
That's not how any of this works.

Really, really ignorant. Doesn't know he's ignoran

[Anonymous Coward]

Ignorant people have numerous ways of demonstrating their ignorance.

easy..

[Anonymous Coward]

i have it right here: '42'

All keys...

[Tomahawk]

for (i=0; i0xffffffffffffffff; i++)
    printf("%16x\n",i);
printf("ffffffffffffffff");

or something along those lines. That'll produce all 128bit keys. Just don't ask me to match each key with each piece of data...

Re:All keys...

[stealth_finger]

Just don't ask me to match each key with each piece of data...

You'll get an extra week for that.

Re:All keys...

[Anonymous Coward]

How would you do it in c#?

Re:All keys...

[Anonymous Coward]

It says "any information necessary to decrypt those messages". "Any" means you don't have to provide all of the information, just some of it, and they're asking only that it's necessary rather than sufficient to decrypt the messages.

Now all that remains to be seen is whether Putin has a soft spot for pedantic nitpickers like us ;)

Re:All keys...

[Anonymous Coward]

Wait til they test it out on my random web page generator. The FSB guy's going down.

Re:All keys...

[Opportunist]

Not in 2 weeks, that's for sure.

Re:All keys...

[Anonymous Coward]

That is actually a pretty genius solution to the temporary problem. They just need to defect somewhere (or is it immigrate now that the iron curtain fell?) before anyone asks for something to be decrypted.

Re:All keys...

[Anonymous Coward]

If you printed 100 Trillion 128 bit keys per second, it would still take you a lot longer than two weeks to produce them all.

Re:All keys...

[Bengie]

Congrats, you just boiled away all of our oceans and probably turned our entire mantle into lava.

Re:All keys...

[Anonymous Coward]

Why not? All you need to do is scale the solution, so outsource it to a cloud provider and you're golden.

Re:All keys...

[gweihir]

Fail! You just produced all illegal porn images of 8x8 pixels b/w as well! I hope you enjoy your lifetime in prison.

Re:All keys...

[Tomahawk]

The number of keys generated is huge - 3.4x10^38. It would take a Very Long Time (tm) to just count that far.
Take a single CPU running at 2.3GHz. Let's assume best case we can do one iteration in 1 clock cycle, so that's 2.3billion iterations per second for a single core.
That amounts to 1.47x10^29 seconds, or around 5.6x10^22 years.
How many CPU cores do you think Amazon, Microsoft, and Google have between them? Even if we were to assume they each had 10million x 4 core CPUs (so 120,000,000 cores), it would still take ~4.6x10^14 years, or approx. 33,510 times the current age of the universe.

So scale all you like, it'll still take a tad longer than 2 weeks...
(and that's assuming you stick to 128bit keys. If you were to go with 256bit keys, then the number of keys is slightly less than the number of atoms in the known universe...)

Re:All keys...

[Anonymous Coward]

Edited together in the correct way, you have every type of porn at a resolution of 16x8 in black and white, plus the answers to all of life's great mysteries, every movie ever created, and ever movie never created (how would copyright law work with this?), a copy of every great masterpiece every painted and never painted, as well as pictures of your mother.

We're doomed...

Mercy-flush

[Mats Svensson]

Why hasn't anyone shot that piece of shit in the head yet?
You know there must be dozens of people around him that knows it must be done.

Re:Mercy-flush

[hesiod]

Maybe because if Putin is assassinated, it only empowers someone even worse to stroll up and say "see, this is why we need to be even stronger and more secure". Maybe. I'm not an expert.

Re:Mercy-flush

[Anonymous Coward]

I bet many Germans who were alive during WWII wish that someone could have just offed Hitler before he went uber-crazy. Certainly there were assassination attempts.

Surprisingly people don't seem to be learning from that and are allowing Putin to go on being Putin with any added Lead in his skull. Fortunately, Putin isn't operating from the same position of strength that Hitler had- and he has NATO to deal with (something Hitler didn't) - so he can't go all blitzkrieg on Europe like he'd so dearly love to do.

Re:Mercy-flush

[HornWumpus]

He needs to be caught with a rentboy (paying the rentboy to pound his ass). Much better than assassination.

Re:Mercy-flush

[JaredOfEuropa]

He'll just off the rent boy and claim any photos were fabricated. He doesn't have to offer a denial that is even remotely plausible; the state press (pretty much any press in Russia at this point) will print his blatant lies along with a bunch of other stuff to sow confusion, and then simply stop after 2 weeks. Wouldn't be the first time either.

Re:Mercy-flush

[Anonymous Coward]

Because evil fills vacuums.

Re:Mercy-flush

[Opportunist]

Evil is dusty?

Re:Mercy-flush

[Opportunist]

Name one occasion in the recent past where a politician has been replaced by a better one.

The main reason political assassination has gone out of habit is simply that the figure head is either fully replaceable or that whatever is sitting behind the throne waiting to ascend is even worse than what's sitting there now.

Nobody thinks he's a good czar. It's just that everyone is afraid of what could come after.

Re:Mercy-flush

[Opportunist]

There were a lot of assassination attempts at him. Fortunately none of the succeeded. Just imagine what could have happened if a capable military strategist had that army, that technology and that industrial capacity at his disposal. We're talking about an army that could wage a war against Russia + USA for roughly 4 years, and an industry that could supply that war under stress of bombing for the same period. The very last thing you'd want in the mix is someone actually able to handle that power.

Re:Mercy-flush

[surd1618]

But I think the USA is still operating on the strategy that we must keep that part of the world unstable. I think the US intelligence agencies would oust anyone more capable than Putin. They like evil crackpots, not powerful leaders.

Re:Mercy-flush

[Anonymous Coward]

Name one occasion in the recent past where a politician has been replaced by a better one.

2008 US presidential election.

Though, admittedly, the difference is slight, especially regarding foreign affairs.

Re:Mercy-flush

[Anonymous Coward]

Well, I'm wishin', and hopin', and thinkin', and prayin' it is.

Re:Mercy-flush

[msauve]

"Name one occasion in the recent past where a politician has been replaced by a better one."

In 2000, a dead person was elected to replace the incumbent.

Guess its a Universal Trait

[Dust038]

And here I thought it was only U.S. Politicians that didn't understand how to computer. Someone get that man 4 Internets Please.

Putin isn't stupid

[bickerdyke]

Especially not THAT stupid.

I guess that back at his own KGB/FSB days, that poor Bortnikov guy tried to hit on Putin's girlfriend or something like that... In twio weeks he will see what that got him....

Re:Putin isn't stupid

[Anonymous Coward]

This article is fake. The source is Meduza, and that said it all. For those who don't know, Meduza is a website of Russian "opposition", and not the smartest one.

One word: terrorism

[Anonymous Coward]

Terrorism is king. It trumps privacy or freedom.

The west has been using this justification for many years now and it would seem that Russia too last learned that to justify anything Orwellian, all you need to say is "because terrorism." Case closed.

Re:One word: terrorism

[spacepimp]

Who do you think we learned the tactic from? You might not realize this but Soviet Russia had to justify their surveillance state to the people. It has and always will be under the guise of a foreign threat. We are simply doing to American Citizens exactly what we used as rhetoric to claim Russia was the evil empire. The very politicians we have today in office should all easily remember the 80's.

mmm...

[MitchDev]

Dear Satan (I mean Putin),

FUCK YOU!

The right-thinking freedom loving people of the planet Earth

Russia is bad

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah, they are evil. Putin is the antichrist. Blah blah blah. But they do this https://www.rt.com/politics/349644-us-elections-monitors-to-get/

US does it? NO!!!

Vlad, the Internet Impaler

[roman_mir]

Putin and his very small hands... He wants 'the Internet encryption keys' in his small hands.

OK, so that is funny. But consider that in the last year Putin increased the police force by a large number in Russia and he signed a law that would require the country to build him his own 'national guard', everybody sees it the same way: he is scared of a coup and he wants his own army around him at all times. Him and his small hands, he is scared to be overthrown and as a KGB operative he knows that he can be overthrown and he decides he needs a couple hundred thousand body guards.

This move against encryption of all sorts is based on the same fear. He is scared of everything, scared he will not find out about a gathering of people somewhere and won't jail them in time before they make it to any news that still exists (and journalism is the most dangerous activity in that country, journalists murdered and beaten by the government). He is afraid to end up in the same way Quadaffi and Hussein ended up in. He should be scared, people are very tired of him. The majority of people in Russia wouldn't move a finger to get ridbof him, but it doesn't take a majority, only a few determined people and that is what he is afraid of most.

Needless to say there are other business interests that are government owned and that would love to have access to all communications that would prevent any competition against them.

Also FSB has their google like search servers installed at every ISP and every communications company in Russia, searching for stuff and recording what matches specific parameters, but the new law also imposes an obligation to all communications companoes to record all traffic and all communications for a minimum of 6 months.

The companies are saying this will cost them billions and will cause rate hikes, the government officials are replying that is nonsense, it will cost nothing and any rate hike because of it would be a money grab. Right, because it costs nothing to record 6 months of internet traffic.

As to this requirement to the FSB to get all of the encryption keys, I wonder who Putin wants to fire 2 weeks from now, because it sounds like an old Russian fairy tale of a tsar telling his servant to go some place that cannot ne found and to get him something that does not exist and if he fails to deliver his head is coming off...

Re:Vlad, the Internet Impaler

[HornWumpus]

so that is funny

You slay you.

Somebody should.

Re:Vlad, the Internet Impaler

[stealth_finger]

Your sig could not be more apt.

Re:Dr Pirstfost

[cbiltcliffe]

I was there, but the damned instructor showed up so late, the class was over. I want my money back!

In Soviet Russian...

[Anonymous Coward]

Anyone come up with a good joke for this?

Re:In Soviet Russian...

[stealth_finger]

Extra letters get you?

Keyless Encryption

[jittles]

and in many instances encryption keys for encrypted information simply don't exist

Ahh keyless encryption: for when you really don't care to ever get the data back.

Re:Keyless Encryption

[flink]

and in many instances encryption keys for encrypted information simply don't exist

Ahh keyless encryption: for when you really don't care to ever get the data back.

Many keys are ephemeral. Once the information has been received and acknowledged, both parties discard their keys. If you intercept one of these messages, no one will ever have a way of decrypting it. The only way to get the information is to double back and beat it out of one of them.

Re:Keyless Encryption

[jittles]

and in many instances encryption keys for encrypted information simply don't exist

Ahh keyless encryption: for when you really don't care to ever get the data back.

Many keys are ephemeral. Once the information has been received and acknowledged, both parties discard their keys. If you intercept one of these messages, no one will ever have a way of decrypting it. The only way to get the information is to double back and beat it out of one of them.

Sure, you can use TLS for instance and get a new key for each transaction. There is still a key, however and one could intercept a TLS key, for instance, by way of a man in the middle attack.

Re:Keyless Encryption

[Anonymous Coward]

They will require rewrites of SSL and other cryptosystems so that at least one endpoint will encrypt the ephemeral key with the FSB's public key and store it next to the encrypted data you are now required to store.

Re:Keyless Encryption

[Anonymous Coward]

Alternatively you could have a government-approved TLS implementation that escrows the ephemeral key. Only one endpoint needs to be coded to do this, such as the Russian server to which you want to connect.

Re:Keyless Encryption

[Anonymous Coward]

Which would necessitate transparent proxies for all endpoints all the time and that massive infrastructure cost. Assuming you could even find or create a proxy that can MITM all forms of OTP encryption.

Re:Keyless Encryption

[Anonymous Coward]

When properly implemented, modern key agreement and authentication protocols provide high assurance protections against MITM attacks (as well as a variety of other cryptographic attacks). Merely having the ability to intercept and/or modify encrypted message traffic does not normally represent a practical cryptographic attack vector, even for very well funded threat actors. It should be noted, however, if one of the legitimate communicating parties is forced to employ weakened protocol parameters, or can perhaps be compelled to utilize (P)RNG algorithms which are weakened in specific and oftentimes very subtle ways, the entirety of the data exchange can become vulnerable to rather easy attacks by the aforementioned well funded actors. -PCP

Incredibly stupid.

[Dr. Charles Forbin]

-----BEGIN PGP MESSAGE-----
Version: GnuPG v2.0.14 (GNU/Linux)

owE7LZHEEF6/aoVnXnJRakpmUk6lQnFJaUFmChcA
=msIO
-----END PGP MESSAGE-----

Re:Incredibly stupid.

[CronoCloud]

-----BEGIN PGP MESSAGE-----
Version: GnuPG v2

owE7bZzEEF5/ttkxQ0ehOF9BPb0g3UhBN1FBV7e4JL8oVV0hs1ghI79coTK/VCEl
X6EkI7FEjwsA
=GxGM
-----END PGP MESSAGE-----

Re:Incredibly stupid.

[Anonymous Coward]

-----BEGIN PGP MESSAGE-----
Version: GnuPG v2

owE7rZnEEN4g3epZol6sUJKRqhDgHqCQWliaWZaYk5pXopCfphDkH6JraKzIBQA=
=4y45
-----END PGP MESSAGE-----

Lol, and I want....

[JustAnotherOldGuy]

"The President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin, has ordered the Federal Security Service (FSB) to produce "encryption keys" to decrypt all data on the internet, and the FSB has two weeks to do it"

Lol, and I also want a magic box that produces an endless supply of tasty, tasty unicorn-scented donuts, the kind with sprinkles on top. And it has to run forever without any electricity or ingredients, too. And I want a big red yacht that can fly to orbit, has artificial gravity, and a tennis court the size of the Atlantic Ocean.

Re:Lol, and I want....

[michaelwigle]

Will unicorn-scented ice cream suffice? :P https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

Re:Lol, and I want....

[macs4all]

endless supply of tasty, tasty unicorn-scented donuts

Um, those aren't unicorn-scented donuts that that unicorn is dropping...

Re: Lol, and I want....

[Anonymous Coward]

Doesn't matter, everything about unicorns is magic. Mmmm, nom nom nom.

Well....

[Anonymous Coward]

Good thing the FBI is looking for a new department head.

Re:Well....

[macs4all]

Good thing the FBI is looking for a new department head.

Unfortunately, they aren't.

Possibilities

[DarkOx]

Possibilities in order of likelihood

1) This reporting is wildly inaccurate, and misses key details, like for example only part of the implantation must be completed in two weeks or similar.

2) Putin is doing this for political cover, he has intelligence there is going to be another terror attack in Russia or one of its surrogates. The intel is not good enough to prevent it, but he wants to look like he is 'doing something'. The argument will be if only people had got out of his way an let him do this sooner the tragedy would have been avoided. It both bolsters his strongman persona and gives an excuse to expanding executive power.

3) Putin is created a legal excuse to punish people who are otherwise political enemies, noncompliance with this new law will provide a legal cover an a veneer of legitimacy.

4) Putin is perfectly aware this is impossible but it will produce a flurry of activity from people who will be trying desperately to save the careers by at least appearing to comply in good faith, in hopes others will take the blame for the obvious eventual failure. Putin plans to utilize all this activity as a distraction to enable some other covert objective to be completed.

5) Putin has totally left the reservation.

Re:Possibilities

[stealth_finger]

Possibilities in order of likelihood

1) This reporting is wildly inaccurate, and misses key details, like for example only part of the implantation must be completed in two weeks or similar.

Best one of those I saw recently said "MP threatens to cut off Gove's penis", turned out what had actually happened was when asked what game of thrones character he resembled the MP responded with the name of a guy in it who apparently had his cut off or something.

Re:Possibilities

[KiloByte]

You're talking about a guy who has made multiple false-flag terrorist attacks for political gain, and then, when a FSB whistleblower dared to come up with evidence, not only had the guy murdered but also took extra steps to sign the murder to send a message to would-be dissidents. I wouldn't even suspect him to not have a deeply thought out scheme here.

Also, at this point, he doesn't really care about a thin cover anymore, he has the population thoroughly intimidated into submission.

Re:Possibilities

[Opportunist]

1) Part or whole, this is prime quality horse shit. The idea alone speaks volumes about how much li'l Vova knows about the internet in general and encryption in particular.

2) "Doing something" could be done vastly differently in Russia. We're talking about a country where you can have soldiers parade up and down some roads on a whim, it's not like you have to do such petty grandstanding, you can do some real grandstanding! That is also a lot more powerful in the strongman approach. Just think what he could have done if we let him not only walk soldiers about but let them actually round up the terrrrrists! We can always release them later... at least the ones still alive...

3) Again, history tells us that can be done far easier. Even outside his jurisdiction people can quickly notice they live a half-life...

4) And yet again, if operative hectic was the goal, a lot more can be done in other areas. This isn't something the average Russian will even notice.

5) He also has totally left the area of sanity. But given that this is hardly an exception with political rulers these days, he's in good company.

Re:Possibilities

[Anonymous Coward]

6. Putin's advisors just pulled off the most epic prank ever

Re:Possibilities

[Anonymous Coward]

It's 1. The article is purely fake. No one is going to "decrypt the internets". Very crude fake, by the way, and Russian opposition is cited as the source. Very strange it got to /.

And this is why

[Anonymous Coward]

US law enforcement and frequently heard lawmaker rhetoric on encryption in dumb.

If you make encryption breakable for YOU, you make it breakable for any autocrat anywhere in the world who passes a law demanding you do so.

Well

[johnsmithperson123]

I can give them to you but it might take a while for you to read them. (Lists every binary number storable in 512 bit space)

Re:Well

[Tomahawk]

512 bit implies public/private key encryption, and bad encryption at that.
For public/private key encryption you don't need to list every number, just every prime, and the list of every prime multiplied by every other prime.
To do this properly, head to 4096 bits, though.

Re:Well

[Anonymous Coward]

512 bit implies public/private key encryption

ThreeFish (successor to TwoFish and BlowFish) uses 1024 bit blocks and 1024 bit keys.

Re: Well

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah, but you can get most (almost all) symmetric encryption that way. Asymmetric? 4096.

Lies

[110010001000]

Why does gawker keep publishing unsubstantiated bullshit, and why do people believe it? There are no references, no substantiation of any of this. How would Gawker know what the orders of Putin are? Christ. Stop republishing Gawkers crap.

Re:Lies

[Anonymous Coward]

Checked all your posts. 99.9% of them (if I was conspiracy minded) seem like posts from one of Putins 'Internet commenter shills', where they try to insult and degrade any non-Putin owned Russian companies.

Re:Lies

[110010001000]

No. You are wrong. 100% of them. Putin pays me directly from his personal stash of Bitcoins.

Re:Lies

[Anonymous Coward]

I don't think so. Disagreeable at times, yes. But a Putin shill? That's a bit of a stretch.

Pallet of Vodka anyone??

[laurencetux]

i think somebody is going to be drinking vodka like water for the next 10 days.

SubjectsInCommentsAreStupidCauseTheSubjectIsTFA

[lesincompetent]

Sure mr. Putin, we already have a piece of software to accomplish just that.
It's called "openssl" and it can generate any encryption key ever used in the past and in the future.
It may take some time though.

There is only one answer...

[MrKaos]

Interney keys, Putin Mr

Gawker, really?

[clonehappy]

Putin is just building his own NSA, and we get this hyperbolic bullshit? And should I assume links to radical, far-right websites will be coming soon since we're already doing the same with the leftists?

Re: Might as well order them to produce cold fusio

[Anonymous Coward]

He's getting old and will soon be irrelevant. Given the silly state of Russian succession politics, a power vacuum will form and there will be turmoil and generally unnecessary stupidness for several years. What a waste; that country has huge potential, but they can't figure out how to unleash it.

One does not simply decrypt "all data"

[CaptainStumpy]

Thats not how any of this works, Mr. Putin.

Re:One does not simply decrypt "all data"

[Opportunist]

Shhh, you don't anger Vova, you don't want him to throw a tantrum...

Non sequitur

[arth1]

In addition to storing all the transmitted information, "organizers of information distribution" have to turn over "any information necessary to decrypt those messages." Therefore, "additional coding" will need to be added to all electronic messages to act as instructions for the FSB to "decode" them.

No, that "therefore" does not follow.
If all the transmitted information is stored with the same encryption method, all they have to do is inform the government of how to access and decrypt once. It does not have to be added to all electronic messages, or to any of them.
There's absolutely nothing that specifies that each message needs a different encryption method.

One approach could be to simply duplicate all traffic going in or out of the network interface to another server, which would encrypt and store the data without knowing or caring what it is. The impact to the server itself would be small, and the traffic itself would not be affected.
Of course, the need for extra hardware and storage, and an indexing system to actually find something, would be terribly expensive, but still a far cry from what the article submitter and editor thinks.

We have push-button internet...

[garywooldridge]

We have push-button internet, so he should have asked for the encryption fobs instead.

Reasoning behind this is VERY simple

[Anonymous Coward]

ISPs fail to have this system in place within 14days. Putin "takes over" all internet providers, claiming full share ownership of them.
See - Russian Oil, coal, gas, solar, farms, manufacturing, Processor Manufacturer (MCST) etc. All now 100% owned by Putin.

Too Many Secrets...

[tekrat]

All he needs is Janik's little black box. It looks like a telephone answering machine...

Re:Too Many Secrets...

[Salgak1]

I was WONDERING when Setec Astronomy would pop up in this thread. . . .

Re:Too Many Secrets...

[Anonymous Coward]

But the Russians use different kind of encryption which the Janik's little black box can't decrypt.

The NSA must be salivating

[Anonymous Coward]

With a giant backdoor to be added to all Russian communications, foreign intelligence services will have a field day!

Re: Might as well order them to produce cold fusio

[JDevers]

Exactly. It is very difficult to get populist support when things are going well, much easier to blame others and rally the troops when things aren't perfect.

Pootie-poot, don't shoot!

[Anonymous Coward]

"FSB, you have two weeks to hand over keys, after that I begin shooting the hostages/citizens!"

It has already begun

[fubarrr]

http://m.imgur.com/M8okElv,HAR... Given that the cisco is on board, it was all prepared beforehand

Re:It has already begun

[Anonymous Coward]

If the cert is invalid, there's no reason to trust that the "Cisco" part of it is legitimate.

You keep using that word

[RogueWarrior65]

I do not think it means what you think it means.

Is Veddy Bad Day

[Jawnn]

...to be head of FSB. I fear that Mr. Bortnikov will, in two weeks, become disappearnik.

just like the USSR

[Joe_Dragon]

just like the USSR what next the missile key?

in soviet russia we unencrypt you!

[Joe_Dragon]

in soviet russia we unencrypt you!

Re: Might as well order them to produce cold fusio

[Anonymous Coward]

I see no problem in doing this. I'll write you a script that produces these keys on the fly. But you will have to choose which keys you want to use.

Delay, then make it up

[SlithyMagister]

The solutions is simple:
"It will be ready any day now" for about 6 months,
"Ready for testing" Followed by 6 months of failures
"Ready" With some sample data.
"Make stuff up" from then on

Re:Delay, then make it up

[Opportunist]

That's like back when Soviet Russia was trying to turn shit into butter. They eventually claimed a 50% success: You could spread it on bread just fine, but the taste...

I hope somebody has fairy god parents.

[IMarvinTPA]

I'm just gonna leave this here:
https://65.media.tumblr.com/8e...

Here it is

[Anonymous Coward]

http://m.imgur.com/M8okElv,HARRjVd,rckKYyz,ka4OhD3

Simple Request

[mrlinux11]

Write a program. 1) Clear 32 byte block of memory 2) Open file to contain the keys 3) Write 32 byte block to file 4) Increment 32 byte block value by 1 5) Repeat steps 3-4 until 32 byte block reaches it's max value 6) Close file 7) You now have all the keys to the Internet which uses a 256 bit symmetric key

And go...

[Tomahawk]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

Or this...

[Anonymous Coward]

Confine all Russian internet protocols to use some cracked system and block the rest. Break the handshake protocol on the fly and attach the extra information. Sure it might block sites that have recently upgraded their security, but they might downgrade it again. There are options here and someone might have already laid the groundwork so this is just the deployment order. Or you know just quietly fail and add some random rubbish so like star wars every one thinks it works.

No one expects the Spanish Inquisition.

Re:Or this...

[Opportunist]

How do you decrypt information that is encrypted not only point to point but beyond that? If I dump a blob on a Russian server and you cannot read it, is it encrypted or do you just not know the proper protocol?

CENSORED!!

[Anonymous Coward]

wtf just posted a comment and it got removed... It slashdot russian hosted???

Re:CENSORED!!

[clonehappy]

This is happening more and more here on Slashdot. Entire conversations are being hidden from view, even when browsing at -1 (which I always do). If you are logged in when you post, you can still see that comment and its children if you look at your posting history, but it will be gone from the main comments section of the article.

I'm not surprised, however, as the new owners are just here to actually and finally destroy the site due to it's unwavering support for free and anonymous speech and the only moderation system that is actually fair. If they can't rig it, or sink it (dice), they'll just break it.

Re:CENSORED!!

[Zontar The Mindless]

Don't be too quick to attribute to malice what may well be due to shitty Slashcode.

(FWIW, I've seen similar complaints but have yet to see any evidence of posts being "hidden" as described.)

Re:CENSORED!!

[Sir Holo]

Don't be too quick to attribute to malice what may well be due to shitty Slashcode.

(FWIW, I've seen similar complaints but have yet to see any evidence of posts being "hidden" as described.)

Slashdot has been around forever, and run by computer experts.

I mark the CENSORSHIP up to MALICE.

FWIW: FB does this FAR more often. On a regular basis. And they also have a select group of 'editors' who select what is "trending" in FB. It is all a bunch of horse shit.

Re: Might as well order them to produce cold fusio

[macs4all]

He's getting old and will soon be irrelevant. Given the silly state of Russian succession politics, a power vacuum will form and there will be turmoil and generally unnecessary stupidness for several years. What a waste; that country has huge potential, but they can't figure out how to unleash it.

Perhaps Putin will have a nice Cerebral Hemorrhage. That seemed to be the typical Russian Retirement Method back in the Cold War days.

2 weeks...

[Opportunist]

Is that enough time to pack and get a travel visa to ... doesn't matter, just OUT OF HERE!

Re:2 weeks...

[Anonymous Coward]

Is that enough time to pack and get a travel visa to ... doesn't matter, just OUT OF HERE!

Yes. You can go from Russia to e.g. the Philippines without a visa.

Encryption Key For The Internet

[Jason Levine]

I'll save Pution some time and post the encryption key to the Internet right here. Ready?

1...

2...

3...

4...

5...

So the encryption key to the Internet is 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to change the combination on my luggage for completely unrelated reasons.

I can't beleive they don't already know

[Anonymous Coward]

My luggage key is 12345...sheesh

Putin could do a nasty

[MarkH]

Insist all Russian sites use a set of authorised ssl certificate authorities. Then insist Russian we browsers honour that list ( as internationally they would be de registered / not trusted in pem list ). Then the agency can spoof / proxy https traffic with access to cert authority private keys.

Two Weeks

[Anonymous Coward]

I think it takes two weeks to send mail in Russia from one city to the other. It's that slow.

Re: Might as well order them to produce cold fusio

[JDevers]

There is a huge difference though. He issued a pointless decree, the west actually has a framework in place to DO it...

Re: Might as well order them to produce cold fusio

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah. At least the NSA has the courtesy to build it's own datacenters to store all it's collected info. The poor Russian companies have to do it own their own dime.

Re: Might as well order them to produce cold fusio

[Anonymous Coward]

Are you sure? They should answer: pi contains all of the keys. They simply need to find the corresponding offsets to each key.

News Headline in Two Weeks

[Anonymous Coward]

"Bortnikov Dead of Heart Attack"

"Today, head of the FSB, Alexander Bortnikov, was found dead of a heart attack. He also had 2 minor puncture wounds in the head and one more in the heart. Bortnikov, a noted health fanatic, was 30 years old and in perfect health. There is no family history of heart problems and Bortnikov neither smoked nor drank. Doctors expressed surprise and puzzlement."

There isn't going to be an Internet

[kheldan]

If stupid trends like what Putin wants continue, at some point there won't be and Internet anymore, all there'll be are Walled Gardens within national borders, never interconnected at all, all of them with their own peculiar set of rules dictated by technologically-incompetent politicians, and for the most part completely unsafe for anyone to use for any reason whatsoever -- except the governments of those Walled-garden countries, who will use the strongest encryption possible, forbidding it to anyone else for any reason. So much for the age of information! As usual, involving too many Humans in it is mucking it up so thoroughly that it might not be possible to save it.

Re:There isn't going to be an Internet

[Anonymous Coward]

except the governments of those Walled-garden countries, who will use the strongest encryption possible, forbidding it to anyone else for any reason

More likely they'll just go for security through obscurity, and handle problems through intimidation.

LOL

[Anonymous Coward]

Looks like someone pissed Putin off big time. This is the crap I pulled on disobedient subordinates in the Army.

Stand outside and mop up the rain, mow the yard with scissors, rake leaves with a fork. Cant wait to see what punishment ol Putput dishes out next.

The irrational mental process of a megalomaniac

[jwbales]

Putin is a megalomaniac. A megalomaniac believes that the very laws of nature will bend to his wishes.

Re:The irrational mental process of a megalomaniac

[Anonymous Coward]

I really don't believe this is exactly what they mean, they know what is and isn't possible.
Of course this came from Gawker and that's all they know is to make shit up.

That's it?

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm sad he stopped short. I wish he had also ordered the end of climate change.

Slow down, Vlad!

[ThatsNotPudding]

Let the FBI/GOP show you how to destroy the free Internet first, then you can just easily apply that template.

Re: Might as well order them to produce cold fusio

[radiumsoup]

he certainly is trying his damndest to reinstate the Soviet state.

Pseudocode

[Anonymous Coward]

while true {
        generate random message
        generate random key
        encrypt message with key
        send to FSB
}

Re: Might as well order them to produce cold fusio

[clubby]

Who do you think arranged for all those CH "accidents?" Most hitmen won't take themselves out for any price.

Ummmm

[M0j0_j0j0]

I don't know,I'll have to check with the developers, but was it 2 weeks, with or without documentation?

In Soviet Russia...

[Anonymous Coward]

In Soviet Russia, keys encrypt you!

In Russia

[Anonymous Coward]

Encryption encrypts you!

Those poor, poor FSB agents. I almost feel sorry for them.

Re: Might as well order them to produce cold fusio

[bjdevil66]

Well, the Soviet state without all the lies about it being "for the masses."

I wonder if President Obama still thinks Mitt Romney was wrong about Putin...

Re: Might as well order them to produce cold fusio

[Darinbob]

Retro is back in fashion.

Ditch The Internet

[Anonymous Coward]

Maybe point to point communication is the answer?
Like one computer talking to only another over an analog phone line?
Perhaps even then a relay?

Modems and FidoNet

Re: Might as well order them to produce cold fusio

[Anonymous Coward]

Captcha: 'Russia, the new China'

Putin isn't dumb or totally ignorant

[GargamelSpaceman]

So, does anyone know what he could be aiming at by this?

Re: Putin isn't dumb or totally ignorant

[Anonymous Coward]

He was drunk

Re: Putin isn't dumb or totally ignorant

[sonamchauhan]

Quantum computing!

Re:Putin isn't dumb or totally ignorant

[smithmc]

Sure, the next step will be that any ISP or Internet-connected data provider will be required to assist in providing these "encryption keys". Which is also impossible, but gives the government a lot (more) of control and legal justification for raiding facilities, interrogating people, etc.

Re:Putin isn't dumb or totally ignorant

[Anonymous Coward]

Taking over the world! Or at least that part of it that used to be CCCP. Seriously, that is Putin's stated primary goal, to bring Russia back to being the major superpower it was, as opposed to the broken-up states that it is right now.

the real plan

[Anonymous Coward]

Russian ISP's complain it would make them bankrupt to try to meet these requirements.

I an guessing that is the plan. The idea is to shut down all private ISP's, and have the internet run entirely by the government. Does anyone really doubt Putin believes that would be vastly superior to the present state of affairs?

By the way, Putin was a career employee of the KGB, and the FSB is its successor, so it is hardly a surprise that he wants to give it all the data it wants. .

Police Academy: Mission to Moscow

[Anonymous Coward]

Was on TV last night. It was seriously cheesy. I don't recall the first few that bad. But anyway, the few minutes I caught, there was the demand to the scientist to make a key that could get into anything on the planet, like banks. His great idea was to infect Gameboys that would infect PC'S when connected to them.

Seems Putin has been watching Police Academy movies.

Where's my reward

[Anonymous Coward]

Found them! Every encryption key, plus a few others, is contained in the set below. Where's my reward, Mr. Putin?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

Reminds me of the time...

[Anonymous Coward]

I had a job interview for some crazy company that wanted a "full-stack" developer. During the interview, I find out that they meant by full-stack...they wanted someone to be the architect, UI/UX designer, requirements analyst, front-end developer(with a specialty in all modern frameworks), back-end developer, database expert, configuration manager, build engineer, version control manager, and test engineer all in one person and that I was to probably be the only one (they said they might consider hiring someone to "help" me). Now I can actually do all of those things, but I value my sanity and basically the cheap bastards wanted an entire development team wrapped up in one person for no more than what I was currently making. I noped the fuck out of there.

In Soviet Russia

[dimethylxanthine]

And not a single "In Soviet Russia" joke? Cmon Slashdot!

The question might sound technically incorrect, bu

[dimethylxanthine]

Isn't it what the NSA and QGHB have essentially been doing for a good while now?

Putin political grandstanding

[Anonymous Coward]

Putin doesn't care if its possible or not. He maintains his authority by posing as superman to the Russian populace. He literally can't lose. He does what he wants and no force on earth can stop him. He's the more reasonable version of Kim Jung Il, he can literally walk into a pro hockey match and score three goals because no one else will stop him. He poses for beefcake photos at an advanced age riding horses because he is maintaining that image. He invades foreign nations because they defy him. He is using this as grandstanding (the 2 weeks time limit is just icing on the superman cake) to say he is accomplishing some major task (probably counter terrorism) and he did it when all the western nations just talked and argued.

Russian Space shuttle

[Anonymous Coward]

This is to PRISM what the Russian shuttle program was to our shuttle program.

Re: Russian Space shuttle

[Anonymous Coward]

Except the space shuttle was cool.

Re:agree about wrench but...

[cryptogranny]

> One way train ticket to Siberia

I agree about wrench but ... Man, nobody is scared of Siberia in Russia! We just live here. And usualy ROFL when came across something like this:

"The winter in Inner Mongolia is very unforgiving. At a freezing temperature of minus 20 and lower, with a constant breeze of snow from all directions, it was pretty hard to ..."

http://travel.nationalgeograph...

I remember taking a walk without hat at minus 32, buying an icecream at -25 and a -20 is a warm winter day for walking a child.

Cosmo, is that you?

[Anonymous Coward]

Too Many Secrets.

Love and kisses from Setec Astronomy.

FSB's Response

[DiEx-15]

Response from the Federal Security Service:

"Yeah... No."

Meanwhile, in the town of Buttfuck, IA inside his mom's basement: A 45 year old man-child named Mike Hunt figured out that the Master Encryption Key to most online games is the number "12345".

FSB encryption keys for the Man...hahahah.

[Anonymous Coward]

Just like his mentor Stalin, Putin is stupid when it comes to co plexiglas beyond the use of fear and lies...I feel for those trying to drag Russia into the modern world. I wonder who is going to break it to this gangster that he cannot get what he wants...ever...it is impossible and getting kore impossible every hour and I am surely glad of it. He might have his steel heels on those in the data industry there but Russia is a weak blustering has been...because they have not given it the tools to do better. It is called intellectual freedom and prioritizing humans over blustering macho bullshit of the big man on top.

I know that statesman!

[martinfb]

I have heard another statesman - actually a Presidential candidate - spout similar calls for magic! Mr Trump has also claimed other intents that can only magically happen! You know, like build a wall and make Mexico pay, or ban all Muslims, etc...

Is Putin and Trump related in any way?!

Am I on Candid Camera?!

[martinfb]

Am I on Candid Camera?!

Re: Might as well order them to produce cold fusio

[hackwrench]

Makes me glad that these people in no way actually "lead" me. Like "The Prisoner", I am a free man.

LOLZ CATZ

[Anonymous Coward]

I read this and almost died laughing in the middle of the library, this is hilarious. I have a boss who tells me to do things without the slightest idea what he's saying. "I hate my hard drive, Matt rewrite that TseeP/IP protocol you mentioned earlier!"

Russian Insecurity

[peawormsworth]

Having all keys in one location will weaken the security of their own nation.

But the request is not surprising. Like our own national security departments, the government is trying to offload the labour of eavesdropping onto the public sector. Who lives in a country where this isn't happening? The only difference between us and them is that they are asking for the keys prior to making a request in the name of terrorism. In practice, there is probably little difference between what Russia is asking for and the permissions you (and me) already gave up in your own country.

What a blessing terrorism is for those who want to side step your individual securities and stifle free speech.

quantum computers=master keys

[Anonymous Coward]

all current encryption is basically tough math problems,
if the speed improvements in quantum computing live up to the hype the should now or soon be able to cut through encryption like a hot knife through butter.

Re:quantum computers=master keys

[oreaq]

Not really. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... for an introduction.

Re: Might as well order them to produce cold fusio

[Anonymous Coward]

I wonder if President Obama still thinks Mitt Romney was wrong about Putin...

What Obama thinks about Putin, and what he can afford to say about Putin, are two different things.

Very useful for the authorities as a pretext ...

[Anonymous Coward]

Since these laws are impossible to comply with, they will be largely ignored. But IF the government ever wants to mess with a website, an ISP, anyone getting encrypted mails, ..., they will order them to produce the decryption key and if they are unable to do that, bang!

This is achievable... for traffic in Russia

[dolmen.fr]

1. Scan all traffic at edges of the network in Russia.
2a. If you are able to decrypt it (well, if ever a implementable definition of "decrypt" is published), let it pass.
2b. If not, block it.

All the traffic that remains is decryptable. So this is achiveable, as long as you accept as a compromise to block so much traffic that not much usage of the Internet remains.