2912, 2020

Translated Article: EU Directive for “High-Class Cybersecurity” with Duplicate Keys

Sanna/ December 29, 2020/ Conference, Security, Stories

EU-Richtlinie für „hochklassige Cybersicherheit“ mit Nachschlüsseln by Erich Moechel for fm4.ORF.at. The key message of the Council of Ministers’ resolution against secure encryption has already arrived in a first draft directive. For this reason here’s a historical outline of the new Crypto Wars since 2014. The resolution of the EU Council of Ministers against secure encryption, which resulted in so much criticism, has already appeared in a first draft directive. A corresponding passage can be found in the new draft directive on “Measures for high-quality cybersecurity in the Union”. The date of December 16 of the document shows that it was already drawn up before the Council resolution was passed (on December 19). Here, too, it is claimed that secure end-to-end encryption remains intact if duplicate keys are generated for third parties. Meanwhile the EU

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0911, 2020

Translated Article: The Terrorist Attack is followed by an EU Ban on Encryption

Sanna/ November 9, 2020/ Conference

Auf den Terroranschlag folgt EU-Verschlüsselungsverbot by Erich Moechel for fm4.ORF.at In the EU Council of Ministers, a resolution was made ready within five days, obliging platform operators such as WhatsApp, Signal and Co to create master keys for monitoring E2E-encrypted chats and messages. The terrorist attack in Vienna is used in the EU Council of Ministers to enforce a ban on secure encryption for services such as WhatsApp, Signal and many others in a fast track procedure. This emerges from an internal document dated November 6th from the German Presidency to the delegations of the member states in the Council, which ORF.at has received. This should now be understood as the “further steps against terrorism” that French President Emmanuel Macron wants to discuss with Federal Chancellor Sebastian Kurz (ÖVP) in a video conference at

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0610, 2020

Translated Article: Urgent Warning of Back Doors in Citrix Systems

Sanna/ October 6, 2020/ Stories

Dringende Warnung vor Hintertüren in Citrix-Systemen by Erich Moechel for fm4.ORF.at An unknown number of these VPN gateways, which protect important networks in Austria such as electronic official traffic, ministries, supermarket chains, etc., are infected with malware. Ransomware blackmailers are now attacking one network after another. After the huge security gap in Citrix dial-up systems (“Shitrix”) at the beginning of the year, the consequences are now coming to light. The German security consultants HiSolutions have recently discovered a number of encryption attacks that were carried out through back doors installed at the time. Large company and authority networks are affected, which, like the electronic file traffic of the Republic (ELAK), were open for weeks over the turn of the year. Almost all of these “VPN gateways” were backed up by software updates much too

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2107, 2020

Translated Article: EU Council of Ministers discusses Back Doors in Encryption again

Sanna/ July 21, 2020/ Security, Stories

EU-Ministerrat diskutiert wieder Hintertüren in Verschlüsselung by Erich Moechel for fm4.ORF.at Gilles de Kerchove, EU’s anti-terror coordinator, is once again working against secure encryption per se. Since these new demands by law enforcement officials on the EU Council of Ministers are nowhere openly accessible, this confidential Council document is published in full by FM4. The corona virus pandemic has led to a surge in teleworking worldwide. Instead of behind firewalls in secure corporate networks, millions of employees worldwide work from insecure home offices. The only real protection is the end-to-end encryption (E2E) of the data traffic. In the middle of this scenario, the “Five Eyes” secret service alliance is starting the next phase of its global campaign against secure encryption. Again, police law enforcement is used as a vehicle. After the United States, the European protagonist

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1707, 2020

Translated Article: US bill against Secure Encryption of Chats

Sanna/ July 17, 2020/ Internet, Security, Stories

US-Gesetzesentwurf gegen sichere Verschlüsselung von Chats by Erich Moechel for fm4.ORF.at A new US law on “Access by law enforcement officers to encrypted data” is intended to force chat providers such as Signal or WhatsApp to incorporate back doors into their security architectures. In the United States, a bill is on its way to the Senate that has stunned the IT industry. The planned law on “Access by law enforcement officers to encrypted data” turns upside down all the rules that have been in force on the WWW for 25 years. Encrypted chats and data backup for a wide audience should therefore only be offered if the provider has duplicate keys. That would be the end of end-to-end encryption (E2E) from Signal, WhatsApp and others. The same applies to hardware manufacturers who have to provide access

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1205, 2020

Translated Article: Ten EU Countries already rely on decentralized Corona Virus Apps

Sanna/ May 12, 2020/ Security, Stories

Schon zehn EU-Staaten setzen auf dezentrale Coronavirus-Apps by Erich Moechel for fm4.orf.at Apple and Google also support the privacy-friendly, decentralized protocol DP-3T. Without technical support in the operating systems of these two groups, no app with Bluetooth tracing can deliver useful results. The decision by Austria and Switzerland to use a corona virus app with decentralized data storage (DP-3T) triggered a chain reaction. By Friday, ten EU countries had already left the large-scale “Pan-European Project for Data Protection-Compliant Person Tracing” (PEPP-PT). The centralized data collection of PEPP-PT leaves all possibilities for data mining open, a deanonymisation of the data is also included. Apple and Google, which support the DP-3T standard, are constantly publishing new specifications for the necessary app interfaces in Android and IOS. Without the support of these two companies, whose operating systems

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1203, 2020

Translated Article: Coup de grace beat Attackers of the Austrian Federal Ministry for European and International Affairs

Sanna/ March 12, 2020/ Security, Stories

Cyberhusarenstück schlug Angreifer im Außenministerium for fm4 by Erich Moechel [We translated this article, because DeepSec actively supports young talents and students. We are looking for organisation and companies that would like to help us in our support. Furthermore, we like to make Erich’s well-researched and well-written articles available for a wider audience.] It was young Technicians who fended off the dreaded cyber Troop Turla. After a short Time they cracked the tricky Encryption of the Turla Trojan. The National Security Council, which the NEOS party convened to discuss the cyberattack on the Federal Ministry for European and International Affairs, meets on Friday. NEOS criticize the cumbersome structures in cyber defence and, above all, that it is not ready to work properly. The quick defence of the notorious cyber troop (APT) Turla is rather

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0306, 2019

Translated Article: EU Prosecutors call for Security Holes in 5G Standards

Sanna/ June 3, 2019/ Communication, Discussion, High Entropy, Security

EU-Strafverfolger fordern Sicherheitslücken in 5G-Standards for fm4 by Erich Moechel The telecoms are to be forced to align the technical design of their 5G networks with the monitoring needs of the police authorities. In addition, security holes in the 5G protocols are required to enable monitoring by IMSI catchers. Gilles de Kerchove, EU counter-terrorism coordinator, warns against the planned security standards for the new 5G mobile networks. The reason for this are neither network components of the Chinese manufacturer Huawei, nor technical defects. De Kerchove’s warnings are directed against the planned high degree of network security, according to an internal document of the EU Council of Ministers, available to ORF.at. These measures to protect against criminals as well as the planned 5G network architecture stand in the way of the installation of backdoors for

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0801, 2019

Translated Article: Campaign of the Spy Alliance “Five Eyes” against WhatsApp and Co

Sanna/ January 8, 2019/ Discussion, High Entropy, Security

Feldzug der Spionageallianz „Five Eyes“ gegen WhatsApp und Co for fm4 by Erich Moechel The current scattered news and reports on “encryption” belong together. The military secret services of the “Five Eyes” conduct a global campaign; in Australia they’ve already reached their first milestone. Every two years, around the same time, a campaign of the espionage alliance “Five Eyes” against encryption programs takes place. Unlike in 2016, the new campaign has reached its first goal in a flash. In early December, a bill was passed in the Australian Parliament obliging Internet companies to break up encrypted communications. The providers of Whatsapp, Snapchat, and Co are hereby required to build surveillance interfaces into their apps to give hidden access to the Australian law enforcement. In a parliamentary coup – without discussion or amendments – the “Assistance

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1610, 2018

Translated RadioFM4 Article: Hype about “Chinese Espionage Chips” stems from the Pentagon

Sanna/ October 16, 2018/ Discussion, High Entropy, Press, Security

[Editor’s note: This article was originally published on the web site of the FM4 radio channel of the Austrian Broadcasting Corporation. We have translated the text in order to make the content accessible for our English-speaking audience, because the author raises some important questions.] In the FM4 fact check the sensational report by the business portal Bloomberg about manipulated hardware for cloud computing turns out to be almost completely fact-free. On Friday a long-awaited report from the Pentagon was released warning about electronics manufacturing in China. by Erich Moechel for fm4.orf.at In the US, the “Cyber Security Month” October has begun, related news come thick and fast. The documentary presented on Thursday about a Russian espionage attack that failed miserably was spectacular, but had already taken place in April. England, Holland and Canada have waited

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1207, 2018

How the BND monitors Communication in Austria

Sanna/ July 12, 2018/ High Entropy, Security Intelligence

[Editor’s note: This article was originally published on the web site of the FM4 radio channel of the Austrian Broadcasting Corporation. We have translated the text in order to make the content accessible for our English-speaking audience.] How the BND monitors communication in Austria At the most important connection to the Frankfurt node DE-CIX data streams from Austria are copied in their entirety to lines of the BND. Selected results of their evaluation are returned by the BND to the Austrian Army Intelligence Office in Vienna. by Erich Moechel for fm4.orf.at The reaction of the Austrian government regarding the publication of a list of targets of the German Federal Intelligence Service (BND) in Austria has caused surprise and amusement amongst intelligence experts. The general tenor: Either the Austrian government really has no idea how

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1903, 2018

The Grotesqueness of the “Federal Hack” of the German Government Network

Sanna/ March 19, 2018/ High Entropy, Security Intelligence

[Editor’s note: This article was originally published on the web site of the FM4 radio channel of the Austrian Broadcasting Corporation. We have translated the text in order to make the content accessible for our English-speaking audience. We will follow-up on it with an article of our own about attribution, digital warfare, security intelligence, and the DeepINTEL conference.] A friendly secret service knew more about espionage against the German government network than the German counterintelligence. Three months after the hack was discovered, the attackers are still somewhere in this huge federal network. By Erich Moechel for fm4.orf.at One week after the announcement of the attack on the security network of the German Federal Government details only leak slowly. The first official statement on Friday claiming that the alleged Russian Trojan suite was already under

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1808, 2017

Mythbusting: Anti-Virus Research considered dangerous

Sanna/ August 18, 2017/ High Entropy, Internet, Security Intelligence, Stories

Everyone doing research in information security or doing any work in this field takes some risks. Since most of the „cyber stuff“ is black magic to others not working in this context, there are a lot of problems and severe misunderstandings. The Crypto Wars still haven’t been decided in favour of mathematics. Real people prefer end-to-end encryption over insecure communication all of the time. Proposals of severely damaging information security for all of us by using sanctioned malicious software are still being debated in parliaments. Backdoors, covert or otherwise, are no line of any defence, as many military strategists will readily tell you. Marcus Hutchins was in the news recently, because of claims that he developed a strand of malware tied to attacks on financial institutions. While you can debate all you want about

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0308, 2017

Decline of the Scientific Method: New (Austrian) “Trojan” Law without Technical Expertise

Sanna/ August 3, 2017/ Discussion, High Entropy, Security

The Crypto Wars are still raging despite everyone relying on secure communication. Everyone means everyone. The good thing is that mathematics still works, even though some people wouldn’t want it to. The latest cryptographic review comes from Amber Rudd, the current UK Home Secretary. She said recently: “Real people often prefer ease of use and a multitude of features to perfect, unbreakable security.” The corollary in turn states that DeepSec conferences aren’t attended by real people. Since we are not yet a purely robot-based event, there is something wrong with this approach to secure communication. The common denominator is simply the lack of technical expertise. There is no surprise there. Ever since the Internet was discovered by the rest of the world (which was in the 1990s, don’t get fooled by web sites who

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1907, 2017

Malicious Software explores new Business Models – Politics

René Pfeiffer/ July 19, 2017/ Discussion, Internet, Security

Malicious software has become a major component of criminal business and geopolitics. In addition it is a convenient explanation for anything one does not want to investigate. Since code always come from somewhere you have to ask yourself many more questions when it comes to infected networks and compromised hosts. What is the agenda of the day? Journalist Erich Moechel has written an article about the arms race regarding malicious software. We have translated the original text from German to English. Expect the state of cyber in your network to rise in the course of the next years. Arms race with Malicious Software enters a dangerous Phase The enormous damage done by “Petya” and “WannaCry” can be traced back to a single, reworked tool from the leaked NSA pool of the “Shadow Brokers”. Experts

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