In Wake of Cameron’s Proposed Anti-Encryption Scheme, Leaked U.S. Study Says Crypto Crucial for Protecting Private Data

A newly released U. S. government study called encryption vital to protecting personal data, according to The Guardian. The leak comes hot on the heels of UK Prime Minister David Cameron’s anti-encryption comments.
The study, unveiled in Snowden’s cache of documents, was secretly published in 2009 by the U. S. National Intelligence Council, a group that informs the Director of National Intelligence. The report described the global cyber security climate at the time of the report, and described projected threats to the U. S. information infrastructure.
Notably, it called encryption the ‘best defense’ against attacks on private data and observed that computers are often left open to attacks. Because encryption adoption has been slow, hacks cost the world economy roughly US$40 billion a year.
In the aftermath of the Charlie Hebdo terrorist attack in Paris, Prime Minister David Cameron called for stronger surveillance powers. In Cameron’s eyes, the governments need to ‘modernize’ the law, so the government could better access private communications to thwart terrorists. He promised to crack down on technology companies using encryption, and hopes to enlist President Obama to twist the arms of giant U. S. tech-companies, such as Facebook, to participate.

This post was published at Coin Telegraph on 2015-01-19.