Is the NSA a Good or Bad thing?

[Smack dat]

Ok so they read and download the world's information. Everything from email, SMS, internet, missiles, satellites, tanks etc etc.

They also intercept and keep tabs on the "bad guys". Just because America and of course by default the world is kept safe. Do you think the NSA is good or bad?

[just a punk]

Originally Posted by Smack dat

Ok so they read and download the world's information. Everything from email, SMS, internet, missiles, satellites, tanks etc etc.

They also intercept and keep tabs on the "bad guys". Just because America and of course by default the world is kept safe. Do you think the NSA is good or bad?

They intercept the idiots only. The NSA is not good or bad, it just can't decode the encrypted information. The same does Mossad, FSB and others, but all of them are very limited in methods they are using to spy.

[notinmybackyard]

When they manage to crack a "One-Time-Pad" encryption then they might be useful.

One-Time-Pad encryption was invented in 1882 and no one has ever been able to crack it. I absolutely guarantee that anyone wanting to keep something truly secret is using this encryption.

[Bladewire]

Originally Posted by CyberSEO

They intercept the idiots only. The NSA is not good or bad, it just can't decode the encrypted information. The same does Mossad, FSB and others, but all of them are very limited in methods they are using to spy.

You don't need to look inside a rock to know it's a rock. Find out what kind of rock by where it's at and what's growing around it

[Barry-xlovecam]

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I think whatever they filter through -- it is too much information. The signal becomes lost in the noise of quantity.

[Smack dat]

Originally Posted by notinmybackyard

When they manage to crack a "One-Time-Pad" encryption then they might be useful.

One-Time-Pad encryption was invented in 1882 and no one has ever been able to crack it. I absolutely guarantee that anyone wanting to keep something truly secret is using this encryption.

Just spent about 30 mins reading up about one time pad. Interesting, thanks.

[rowan]

Originally Posted by notinmybackyard

When they manage to crack a "One-Time-Pad" encryption then they might be useful.

One-Time-Pad encryption was invented in 1882 and no one has ever been able to crack it. I absolutely guarantee that anyone wanting to keep something truly secret is using this encryption.

It's still possible to crack this if the source of "randomness" is weak or buggy.

https://security-tracker.debian.org/.../CVE-2008-0166

Due to a coding bug, the random number generator was seeded with only 15 bits of data, which means that only 32767 unique streams would be output by the random number generator. If a key is generated immediately after seeding, that means there's only 32767 possible keys, which makes brute forcing easy. Normally a random number generator suitable for cryptography would use many, many more bits as a seed.

So if the random number generator for your OTP is flawed, it may be possible to crack the message.

[just a punk]

Originally Posted by Smack dat

Is the NSA a Good or Bad thing?

Was it somehow useful to prevent the terrorist attack on 9/11? A very simple question, isn't it? The NSA is just one of thousand useless pieces of shit which sucks the money from the clueless US taxpayers. Just like Obamacare - billions of dollars for nothing. The US GDP grows up, but does the real life gets better? If You Have $10 And No Debt, You Are Richer Than 15% Of American Households Put Together.

[notinmybackyard]

Originally Posted by Smack dat

Just spent about 30 mins reading up about one time pad. Interesting, thanks.

Anytime - I'm a walking book of "useless but interesting" information. LOL

Originally Posted by rowan

It's still possible to crack this if the source of "randomness" is weak or buggy.

https://security-tracker.debian.org/.../CVE-2008-0166

Due to a coding bug, the random number generator was seeded with only 15 bits of data, which means that only 32767 unique streams would be output by the random number generator. If a key is generated immediately after seeding, that means there's only 32767 possible keys, which makes brute forcing easy. Normally a random number generator suitable for cryptography would use many, many more bits as a seed.

So if the random number generator for your OTP is flawed, it may be possible to crack the message.

Everything is flawed when you screw up including encryption.

It's this reason that the One-Time-Pad tends to be still done by hand without the assistance of a computer. Real spies carry the "key" usually on an extremely small piece of paper that can be easily hidden. (ie: During the cold war Russian spies would do things like have it placed under a toe nail)

Having done some personal research on the subject I quickly learned that any group that's honestly serious (and worth worrying about) uses almost exclusively very low-tech methods to defeat state run intelligence groups.