
US and UK agents moved after China and Russia decrypt Snowden files - madradavid
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-33125068
======
dang
Please don't editorialize titles when submitting to HN.

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beltsonata
>"Well, we are told authoritatively by people in Downing Street, in the Home
Office, in the intelligence services that the Russians and the Chinese have
all this information and as a result of that our spies are having to pull
people out of the field because their lives are in danger."

"Authoritatively".

How can we tell if this is true or just a PR stunt? I'm naturally suspicious
of anything the security services say, but can see that this could have a germ
of truth.

I have no idea how Snowden encrypted the files, nor do I know if any people
are singled out in them. Does anyone know any better?

~~~
mozumder
Knowing Snowden, the password was probably "1111".

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Immortalin
Or "password".

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dalke
We know his advice to Greenwald was to use a password like
"MargaretThatcheris110%SEXY" to avoid dictionary attacks, and in his interview
by Jon Oliver he says that short passwords can be brute forced. (See
[http://www.wired.com/2015/04/snowden-sexy-margaret-
thatcher-...](http://www.wired.com/2015/04/snowden-sexy-margaret-thatcher-
password-isnt-so-sexy/) for both videos.)

Therefore, both of you are very likely incorrect.

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veqz
On the chance that this is true (I have no reason to trust the British
government on any surveillance topic), that would mean one of three things:
1\. Snowden messed up and chose a bad encryption scheme/key. 2\. Russia and
China have the ability to break secure encryption schemes. 3\. One of the
journalists entrusted with the documents messed up with the handling of the
keys.

Only number 3 seems a little bit possible, and even then I'm skeptical...

~~~
DanBC
Number three isn't that unlikely. Encryption is hard to use and subtle
mistakes can ruin the encryption.

And some of the mistakes are not that subtle.

[http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/10276460/David-...](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/10276460/David-
Miranda-was-carrying-password-for-secret-files-on-piece-of-paper.html)

David Miranda carried USB sticks with emcrypted material through a UK border.
He also carried a piece of paper with the password. The UK has abused their
anti-terror law so ot was entirely predictable that they would abuse the law
to detain and question Miranda.

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doctorshady
After the recent OPM compromise, I'd find it hard to believe the US wouldn't
pull out their agents anyway.

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pdkl95
I sure is convenient timing. The idea that we just found out that _both_ China
_and_ Russia had decrypted Snowden's documents right after the government
suffered a rather significant security failure requires too many coincidences.

A simpler explanation is that other (probably not publicly discussed)
sensitive data stolen in the OPM compromised required moving agents, and
Snowden is a convenient scapegoat.

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beltsonata
Greenwald has a good critique of the claims here:

[https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2015/06/14/sunday-
times-r...](https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2015/06/14/sunday-times-report-
snowden-files-journalism-worst-also-filled-falsehoods/)

