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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 To actually operate the data centers, the Russian government would need to upgrade Russia's outdated electrical grid and cables, which could cost between $30 and $77 billion.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!

59 of 296 comments (clear)

  1. I asked you to kill superman, by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

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

    1. Re:I asked you to kill superman, by DemoLiter3 · · Score: 3, Funny

      Simple - they will hire Chuck Norris for the job.

    2. Re:I asked you to kill superman, by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

      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.

    3. Re:I asked you to kill superman, by I'm+New+Around+Here · · Score: 3, Funny

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

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    4. Re:I asked you to kill superman, by rubycodez · · Score: 2

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

  2. Might as well order them to produce cold fusion by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    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

    1. Re:Might as well order them to produce cold fusion by Maritz · · Score: 2

      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.

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    2. Re:Might as well order them to produce cold fusion by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      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.

    3. Re:Might as well order them to produce cold fusion by Anonymous+Brave+Guy · · Score: 5, Insightful

      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.

      --
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    4. Re:Might as well order them to produce cold fusion by NatasRevol · · Score: 4, Insightful

      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.

      --
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    5. Re:Might as well order them to produce cold fusion by JaredOfEuropa · · Score: 4, Insightful

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

      --
      If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
    6. Re:Might as well order them to produce cold fusion by MightyMartian · · Score: 2

      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.

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    7. Re:Might as well order them to produce cold fusion by Hevel-Varik · · Score: 2

      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.

    8. Re:Might as well order them to produce cold fusion by gtall · · Score: 2

      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.

    9. Re:Might as well order them to produce cold fusion by friedmud · · Score: 2

      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...

    10. Re:Might as well order them to produce cold fusion by Jason+Levine · · Score: 3, Funny

      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!

      --
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  3. Sounds like a personal thing to me. by Mal-2 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    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.

    --
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    1. Re:Sounds like a personal thing to me. by bsDaemon · · Score: 5, Insightful

      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?

    2. Re:Sounds like a personal thing to me. by JaredOfEuropa · · Score: 2

      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.

      --
      If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
    3. Re:Sounds like a personal thing to me. by MightyMartian · · Score: 2, Insightful

      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.

      --
      The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
    4. Re:Sounds like a personal thing to me. by Opportunist · · Score: 2

      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.

      --
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  4. 2 weeks later by Nidi62 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Contents of Official FSB Decryption kit:

    Wrench

    One way train ticket to Siberia

    --
    The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for it to be pitted against a slightly greater evil
    1. Re:2 weeks later by Fire_Wraith · · Score: 3, Informative

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

    2. Re:2 weeks later by Opportunist · · Score: 2

      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.

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  5. Putin is not stupid by penguinoid · · Score: 2

    So why is he pretending to be stupid?

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    1. Re:Putin is not stupid by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      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.

    2. Re:Putin is not stupid by DNS-and-BIND · · Score: 2, Insightful

      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.

      --
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    3. Re:Putin is not stupid by hyades1 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      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.

      --
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    4. Re:Putin is not stupid by thegarbz · · Score: 2

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

  6. All keys... by Tomahawk · · Score: 4, Informative

    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...

    1. Re:All keys... by stealth_finger · · Score: 2

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

      You'll get an extra week for that.

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    2. Re:All keys... by Opportunist · · Score: 3, Funny

      Not in 2 weeks, that's for sure.

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  7. Guess its a Universal Trait by Dust038 · · Score: 2

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

  8. One word: terrorism by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    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.

  9. Re:Mercy-flush by hesiod · · Score: 3, Insightful

    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.

  10. Possibilities by DarkOx · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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.

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    1. Re:Possibilities by stealth_finger · · Score: 2

      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.

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  11. Well by johnsmithperson123 · · Score: 2

    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)

  12. Re:Keyless Encryption by flink · · Score: 4, Insightful

    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.

  13. Lies by 110010001000 · · Score: 4, Informative

    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.

    1. Re:Lies by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

      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.

    2. Re:Lies by 110010001000 · · Score: 3, Interesting

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

  14. Reasoning behind this is VERY simple by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    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.

  15. Re:Keyless Encryption by jittles · · Score: 2

    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.

  16. Re: Might as well order them to produce cold fusio by JDevers · · Score: 2

    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.

  17. Delay, then make it up by SlithyMagister · · Score: 2

    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

    1. Re:Delay, then make it up by Opportunist · · Score: 2

      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...

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  18. Re:typical gawker ignorance and misinformation by swillden · · Score: 5, Funny

    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.

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  19. Re:CENSORED!! by clonehappy · · Score: 2

    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.

  20. 2 weeks... by Opportunist · · Score: 2

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

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  21. Re:Mercy-flush by Opportunist · · Score: 2

    Evil is dusty?

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  22. Re:Mercy-flush by Opportunist · · Score: 3, Interesting

    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.

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  23. Re: Might as well order them to produce cold fusio by JDevers · · Score: 2

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

  24. There isn't going to be an Internet by kheldan · · Score: 2

    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.

    --
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  25. Re:Mercy-flush by surd1618 · · Score: 2

    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.

  26. Re:typical gawker ignorance and misinformation by Areyoukiddingme · · Score: 2

    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.

  27. Re: Might as well order them to produce cold fusio by radiumsoup · · Score: 2

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

  28. Re: Might as well order them to produce cold fusio by bjdevil66 · · Score: 2

    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...

  29. Re:Putin isn't dumb or totally ignorant by smithmc · · Score: 2

    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.

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