Israeli compromise of U.S. telecommunications?

[Ronald L. Rivest]

I found the following four-part report by Carl Cameron rather shocking:

Part 1: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,40684,00.html
Part 2: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,40747,00.html
Part 3: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,40824,00.html
Part 4: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,40981,00.html

Why should we be freely giving to Israeli corporations
information (call records, CALEA information) that requires
court orders to obtain in this country?  Such information
is obviously sensitive, and the well-motivated efforts to
strengthen and protect our national infrastructure should
reasonably include mandating that such information not be
routinely handled by any foreign entities...

A more recent story indicates that the compromise was
probably severe; criminals were escaping detection
because of the compromise:
   http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2001/12/18/224826.shtml

This vindicates concerns many of us have expressed
over the years about creating single points of failure
in wiretapping systems (e.g. the vulnerability of key
escrow, etc.).  Of course, in this case the vulnerability
was intentionally created, it seems, by giving critical
capabilities to foreign entities...


Ronald L. Rivest
Room 324, 200 Technology Square, Cambridge MA 02139
Tel 617-253-5880, Fax 617-258-9738, Email <rivest at mit.edu>




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