News & Comment: “Five Eyes” Nations Quietly Demand Government Access to Encrypted Data
âFive Eyesâ Nations Quietly Demand Government Access to Encrypted Data
NEWS:
Last week, a statement was issued last week by the “Five Eyes” nations – United States, Britain, Australia, New Zealand and Canada – demanding tech companies provide ‘lawful access’ to encrypted digital content and promising compelled compliance if companies refuse to provide it. The threat stops short of compelling tech companies to give access to intelligence officials from Australia, Britain, Canada, New Zealand and the United States.
COMMENT:
Nick Bilogorskiy, Cybersecurity Strategist at Juniper Networks:
“You can’t have a backdoor that’s only for the good guys. Once the encryption protocol has been handicapped and a door has been opened, other bad actors – from hackers to foreign governments – will walk through that door. Moreover, if backdoors are added then criminals are likely to switch to other services that do not have backdoors, or develop their own open-source tools. This would ultimately result in security being reduced for law abiding citizens more so than criminals.”
Hugh Taylor
Hugh Taylor is a Certified Information Security Manager (CISM). In addition to editing Journal of Cyber Policy, he writes about cybersecurity, compliance and enterprise technology for such clients as Microsoft, IBM, SAP, HPE, Oracle, Google and Advanced Micro Devices. Prior to launching his freelance writing career, he served in executive roles at Microsoft, IBM and several venture-backed technology startups.