Encryption still protects data, even from NSA, experts say

September 08, 2013

Though the National Security Agency spends billions of dollars to crack encryption technologies, security experts maintain that properly implemented, encryption is still the best way to maintain online privacy. The Guardian newspaper and other media outlets last week published stories based on internal internal NSA documents that explain how the spy agency bypasses encryption technologies by using backdoors, brute force attacks, lawful intercepts via court orders, and partnerships with tech vendors. The reports, based on documents leaked to reporters by former NSA-contract employee Edward Snowden, suggest that many encryption algorithms now widely used to protect online communications, banking and medical records, and trade secrets have been cracked by the NSA and its British counterpart, the GCHQ. Cryptography still protects Steve Weis, chief technology officer at PrivateCore and holder of a Ph.D in cryptography from MIT, said despite the NSA activities, the mathematics of cryptography remains very hard to crack. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Link: http://www.pcworld.com/article/2048286/encryption-still-protects-data-even-from-nsa-experts-say.html#tk.rss_all