Interviews

Comment on Cameron

by Mark Rowe

Prime Minister David Cameron’s proposed law on interception of communications has security and privacy implications for businesses that use encryption tools for legitimate purposes, IT and security figures have commented.

Richard Moulds, VP of Strategy at Thales e-Security said: “The genie is already out of the bottle, so making changes now won’t have much effect if the bad guys can already get their hands on strong encryption for free. People can’t make the technology simply ‘go away’ just because it has unwanted uses. Governments could try to make encryption illegal or employ measures such as limiting the size of encryption keys or requiring people to register their keys, but realistically none of these approaches are practical. At some point governments have to accept that encrypted communications can’t reliably be broken, and that lawful interception will become less useful over time. Other intelligence gathering techniques will need to be developed.”

And Dr Wael Aggan, CEO of CloudMask, said: “David Cameron should not be convincing companies to offer less security to their customers. He should be doing just the opposite. The law specifically ensures that companies are not required to be an agent of the state but rather serve their own IP and the privacy interests of their customers.

“Mr Cameron is trying to convince the world that some fantasy version of security is possible—where “good guys” can have a back door or extra key to your home but bad guys could never use it. Anyone with even a basic understanding of security can tell you that’s just not true. The issue is much bigger than secure emails and chats, it is about the safety of our society and the lives of our citizens. Just imagine removing encryption for controllers of our infrastructure. Mr. Cameron’s proposal is a disaster for all of us.”

Pictured: David Cameron earlier this month in Nottingham where the PM tried his hand at tiling at East Midlands Roofing College. Photo courtesy of 10 Downing Street.

In a speech Prime Minister David Cameron earlier this month promised ‘comprehensive legislation’ if he stays in power after May’s general election, ‘to make sure we don’t allow terrorists safe space to communicate with each other. That is the key principle – do we allow safe space for them to talk to each other?’ He admitted that the power to intercept communications data, and the content of a message – whether letter, phone call or email – was ‘intrusive’, and only with the Home Secretary signing a warrant. “But the question remains, are we going to allow a means of communication where it simply isn’t possible to do that and my simple answer is no, we mustn’t.” He was speaking shortly after the Charlie Hebdo murders in France: “The attacks in Paris once again demonstrated the sale of the threat we face and we need robust powers to keep our people safe.”

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