TCPA/Palladium -- likely future implications (Re: dangers of TCPA/palladium)

[Peter Fairbrother]

Adam Back wrote:
[...]
> - It is always the case that targetted people can have hardware
> attacks perpetrated against them.  (Keyboard sniffers placed during
> court authorised break-in as FBI has used in mob case of PGP using
> Mafiosa [1]).

[...]

> [1] "FBI Bugs Keyboard of PGP-Using Alleged Mafioso", 6 Dec 2000,
> slashdot

That was a software keylogger (actually two software keyloggers), not
hardware. 

(IMO Scarfo's lawyers should never have dealt, assuming the evidence was
necessary for a conviction, but the FBI statement about the techniques used
was probably too obfuscated for them - it took me a good week to understand
it. I emailed them, but got no reply.

Incidently, Nicky Scarfo used his father's prison number for the password,
so a well researched directed dictionary attack would have worked anyway.)


The FBI reputedly can (usually, on Windows boxen) now install similar
software keyloggers remotely, without needing to break in.


-- Peter Fairbrother


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