[Clips] "Clippre": Leaving a trail of tech

[R.A. Hettinga]

--- begin forwarded text


 Delivered-To: clips at philodox.com
 Date: Mon, 1 Aug 2005 22:38:26 -0400
 To: Philodox Clips List <clips at philodox.com>
 From: "R.A. Hettinga" <rah at shipwright.com>
 Subject: [Clips] "Clippre": Leaving a trail of tech
 Reply-To: rah at philodox.com
 Sender: clips-bounces at philodox.com

 <http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/world/ny-woside0802,0,6663269,print.story?coll=ny-top-headlines>



 Newsday.com:

 Leaving a trail of tech

 Cell phones and the encryption of files on computers are tools authorities
 now focus on in tracking terror


  BY MARK HARRINGTON
  STAFF CORRESPONDENT

  August 2, 2005

  LONDON --  He may have skipped Britain on an ordinary rail ticket amid the
 country's highest level of security since World War II, but it was not long
 before authorities picked up his signal, literally.

  By the time they seized him in Rome on Friday, Hamdi Issac, also known as
 Osman Hussain -- one of the suspects in London's failed July 21 bombings --
 had made a call to Saudi Arabia, scattered a trail across Europe and even
 tried to throw authorities off his track by changing the electronic chip in
 his cell phone, according to an Italian anti-terror chief yesterday.

  But even as authorities in London celebrated a series of technological
 successes in the complex probe of the city's terror attacks last month,
 they were asking for more powers.

  In a move reminiscent of the fast-track treatment received by the USA
 Patriot Act following the Sept. 11 attacks in 2001, Parliament is expected
 to swiftly weigh a number of anti-terror measures, including legislation
 that would make it a crime for anyone to withhold access codes to computer
 files that have been encrypted. Sentences of up to 10 years in prison are
 reported to be on the table, though any such measure would have to wait
 until Parliament reconvenes in the fall.

  The call for stiffer anti-encryption laws comes as investigators have
 gained unprecedented insight into the movement and training of suspects
 through cell phones and computers.

  In a televised news briefing in Rome yesterday, Italian anti-terror chief
 Carlo De Stefano described in surprising detail the path of suspected
 bomber Issac as he entered Italy and traveled around the country before
 being captured by authorities over the weekend.

  "You always have this evolving technological struggle between
 counterterrorism forces and the terrorist," said Jeremy Binnie, an analyst
 with the London-based Jane's Terrorism and Insurgency Center, describing
 why authorities are pushing for tougher rules. The law "makes sense if
 authorities are trying to gather evidence and they think the information is
 crucial and can't get it otherwise."

  But Peter Neumann, an international anti-terrorism expert at King's
 College in London, wondered whether tougher laws would simply push
 increasingly sophisticated terrorists to means other than encrypted files
 to hide evidence. He suggested that Issac's apparent failure to understand
 the trail he was leaving behind with his cell phone use is relatively
 uncommon among generally more techno-savvy Islamic terrorists.

  One of the suspects in the July attacks here, he said, has acknowledged
 using Internet tutorials to learn the techniques of bomb-making. While a
 London Metropolitan Police spokeswoman declined to comment, Neumann said it
 is increasingly common for terrorists to plan attacks and outline
 techniques on Web pages that are set up and taken down in a matter of
 hours, before police can discover or trace them. "It's a very fluid system
 and very effective," he said.

  Encryption technology is commonly available and relatively easy to use,
 Neumann noted, but it is still considered sophisticated. "The big irony of
 these movements is that while they are very medieval in ideology, they are
 also very modern in employing technology," Neumann said.

  Still, legislation that would try to force users to unlock access codes
 may not prove particularly effective if it is enacted for Britain alone.
 "National legislation doesn't strike me as something very useful" unless
 the effort is undertaken across Europe, he said.

 --
 -----------------
 R. A. Hettinga <mailto: rah at ibuc.com>
 The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation <http://www.ibuc.com/>
 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA
 "... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity,
 [predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to
 experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'
 _______________________________________________
 Clips mailing list
 Clips at philodox.com
 http://www.philodox.com/mailman/listinfo/clips

--- end forwarded text


-- 
-----------------
R. A. Hettinga <mailto: rah at ibuc.com>
The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation <http://www.ibuc.com/>
44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA
"... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity,
[predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to
experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'

---------------------------------------------------------------------
The Cryptography Mailing List
Unsubscribe by sending "unsubscribe cryptography" to majordomo at metzdowd.com