encrypted bits » encryption

RSA Conference 2010: In the clouds

Kevin Bocek — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 16:41:24 +0000

Day One at RSA Conference 2010 was filled with Cloud talk. All the keynotes referenced it and there were a number of new products and alliances announced.

As is usually the case when he takes the stage, Whit Diffie stole the show. Diffie was award the Lifetime Achievement Award and participated in the Cryptographers’ Panel.

Really, I don’t work for RSA anymore

Kevin Bocek — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 02:19:29 +0000

Seems like all that I can blog about for a year is the RSA Conference. There are draft posts in my queue (mobile device encryption, Apple TV 2.0, data protection in Europe and a few more), but they never seem to finish themselves. I blame Twitter.

For those interested, here are photos from RSA Conference Europe 2009.

Encryption devices at RSA Conference Europe 2008

Kevin Bocek — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 19:53:26 +0000

A main attracton at the RSA Conference Europe 2008 was a collection of vintage encryption devices. These machines are incredibly intriguing and bring new meaning to mobile data protection. What would the magic quadrant for 1950 look like?

The obvious highlight of the display was an Enigma that raised a number of questions and was the main focus of hands-on demonstrations. John Alexander, an Enigma machine expert and collector, led a lively discussion.

Devices on display included: Heimsoeth und Rinke Enigma, USSR Fialka, Hagelin C36, Hagelin C38S, Hagelin BC38, and Hagelin BCX52

The Guardian recorded a podcast with John Alexander and Simon Signh dicussing topics that included Enigma and encryption.

Hopefully this display will continue and be expanded at both the RSA Conference and RSA Conference Europe. The encryption device display was organized by Victoria Worpole from Bletchley Park’s Education Department and John Alexander. Please help to ensure that encryption history is preserved by making a donation to the The National Museum of Computing at Bletchley Park.

More photos from the RSA Conference Europe 2008 are available on Flickr

PGP Corporation Alumni group milestone

Kevin Bocek — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 20:20:26 +0000

In 136 days, the LinkedIn PGP Corporation Alumni group has grown to 60 members. For those interested, that’s 0.44 members per day over a period of 4 months, 13 days.

The milestone was reached with only current and former employees of PGP Corporation. No outside recruiters or fanboys. A few McAfee staff have expressed interest – possibly showing signs of depression, withdraw and/or regret after more than a year with SafeBoot?

In Search Of… Backup tape falling off a truck

Kevin Bocek — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 16:20:13 +0000

In product marketing, the search for the perfect image to jazz up a presentation is never ending. For years, I’ve been looking for an image to represent the challenge of lost backup tapes.

I think this is truly a search fit for Leonard Nemoy and In Search Of... Sasquatch, UFOs, an image of backup tapes tumbling off a truck…

So far my latest, best find is from Flickr. Not a box full of tapes, but the “Fell Off Truck” text is a nice touch and gives a hint of what might happen to a backup tape in a similar situation.

Full Mobile Device Encryption

Kevin Bocek — Tue, 13 Feb 2007 01:20:23 +0000

With the introduction of Windows Mobile 6, Microsoft has taken a first step in closing the gap with BlackBerry for native device encryption (see table below for smartphone OS comparison). Windows Mobile 6 adds the ability to encrypt the entire contents of a memory expansion card. While this protects data stored on an expansion card (attachments, documents, etc.) in the event the card is lost or stolen, the contents of a device are still not encrypted. While more complicated than simply reading data off an SD card, reading the contents of a smartphone’s memory is not impossible.

Third party products are available that add device, file, or folder encryption to Symbian and Windows Mobile devices. In 2006, Juniper research forecasted the market for mobile phone encryption to reach over $1BB by 2011.

Comparison of Native Device Encryption by Smartphone Operating System

	RAM	Expansion (e.g. SD card)
BlackBerry OS 4.1	Supports	Supports
Symbian OS 9
Windows Mobile 5
Windows Mobile 6		Supports

A First: Mobile Phone Encryption Market Forecast

Kevin Bocek — Mon, 20 Nov 2006 07:12:16 +0000

Confirmation: Juniper Research appears to be the first research firm to size the market for mobile phone encryption. The "mobile" in the report, Mobile Data Security: Access, Content, Identity & Threat Management, 2006-2011, refers to mobile phones and not mobile computing devices (e.g., laptops). This is a significant step ahead for the market, especially since Juniper forecasts the market to reach over $1BB by 2011.

Mobile (Phone?) Encryption Market Forecast

Kevin Bocek — Thu, 09 Nov 2006 05:24:53 +0000

Juniper Research appears to be one of the first (if not the first) industry analysts to forecast the market growth for mobile (phone?) encryption. In Mobile Data Security: Access, Content, Identity & Threat Management, 2006-2011, Juniper includes a forecast for "Data & File Encryption." Not sure yet if this forecast includes laptop/desktop full disk encryption (aka whole disk encryption).

Paranoia on the rise? Take your pick of mobile voice encryption apps

Kevin Bocek — Sat, 04 Nov 2006 05:29:42 +0000

It seems that developers are increasingly concerned about protecting the privacy of their mobile phone conversations. Encryption of phone conversations has sometimes been talked about as the killer app for encryption. However, it has never caught on – mostly I believe because there was never an open platform to develop for a wide audience… keeping development costs high, limiting the interested market ,etc. (and all the Five Forces) Now, there are widely deployed mobile operating systems with enough generic CPU power to handle real-time encryption and it seems developers ready for a go at it.

In one day, I heard of two separate companies developing similar solutions – voice encryption applications for smartphones:

SecureGSM: Available for both Window Mobile and Windows Mobile Smartphone (SecureGSM™)
PhoneCrypt: Window Mobile only (SecurStar)

Both of these products are developed outside of North America (Australia and Germany) and appear to work the old-fashion way – creating dialup connections between the two phones to transfer and receive the encrypted conversation. CryptoPhone from Germany offers another Windows Mobile solution plus the option for purchasing unlocked GSM phones with the software already installed.

As one would expect, their positioning includes protecting against the usual bad guys, the government and your competition, but they also focus on keeping your conversation safe from your own mobile carrier. Suspected operator assistance with US surveillance programs maybe influencing the paranoid to purchase these products, but will the primary mobile channel, mobile operators, offer such solutions? And will large business customers buy?

To date, I haven’t seen industry analysts cover this application or identify the need. Comparisons could be drawn to Phil Zimmerman’s Zfone, but the threat models are somewhat different given IP vs. GSM, etc. Given the lack of inherent security for VoIP and the barrier to intercept mobile phone calls, I expect businesses to adopt VoIP encryption before mobile voice encryption. And when it comes to protecting conversations from governments, Brian Snow, former technical director for the NSA’s Information Assurance Directorate, noted at the 30th Birthday of Public Key Cryptography that if governments really want to spy on you, they will, whether or not you are using encryption.