As The World Encrypts; Quantum Cryptography Sought
‘Golden Age Of SIGINT May Be Over’: New Encryption Foils IC Eavesdropping
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+ The US government cannot control the skyrocketing use of encrypted communications that allow adversaries, terrorists, criminals — and ordinary folks who care deeply about privacy, including journalists — to block eavesdropping by national security agencies, says a new study funded by DARPA and the Center for Advanced Studies on Terrorism (CAST).
“End-to-end encryption of all communications and data, differential privacy, and secure communications for all users are likely to be the new reality,” says a new DARPA-funded study.
+ “The ‘golden age of SIGINT’ may be over, particularly within the next five or ten years,” the study, “Going Dark: Implications of an Encrypted World,” finds. The traditional methods of collecting signals intelligence and eavesdropping on communications used by the Intelligence Community (IC) will no longer be effective. “End-to-end encryption of all communications and data, differential privacy, and secure communications for all users are likely to be the new reality,” the study says.
+ On one hand, the study notes, the boom in encryption technology is great for the Defense Department as it seeks to safeguard its vast data networks, as well as for those who comprise the defense industrial base. DARPA has a history dating back to the early 2000s of exploring quantum computing and quantum key encryption to protect DoD data. For example, last July DARPA asked experts and industry to weigh in on how quantum computing might enable artificial intelligence and high-speed data analytics.
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