Cryptology Advancing National Security - Essay Example

Cryptology: Advancing National Security. al Affiliation: Introduction: The of national security is an important aspect that any government must consider especially taking into considerations the rising threat of terrorist attacks. Cryptography plays an important role in securing the defense of the nation with its ability to create secure network and communication channels for the government and the military. At the same time, an increase in internet traffic means that criminals are now using the same channels to pass messages and conduct illegal business activities. There are constant threats to national security with government servers constantly coming under attack, as people have now developed technology that is able to break advanced encryption protocols and in that way gain access to sensitive password protected information. Cryptology plays an important role in defending sensitive information from being accessed by criminals, and is the first point of national security protecting the country against surprise terrorist attacks on the mainland. Cryptology involves breaking codes on heavily encrypted and important information to national security and defense. In most cases, criminal organizations will encrypt their files containing bank records, business deals and data. The intelligence agencies need to have an idea of the contents as this gives them an opportunity to be one step ahead of the criminals. Intelligence agencies are also able to gather information from diplomatic and military communications containing secrets of countries that are considered to be threats to national security. Cryptology is normally defined in common terms as algorithms and key lengths which are meant to define or mean that there are high security levels. In the same way, that there are different types of security systems and door locks, there are also different forms of cryptology some which are much stronger and effective than others. While most software developers spend most of their time developing security systems to protect people’s privacy, confidential information and to ensure that online business transactions are safe, the NSA develops software to ensure that they are able to track and read information sent that may prove to be a security threat. Poulsen observes that, “the security apparatus has acquired ground breaking cryptanalic capabilities and that approximately 21 percent of the intelligence budget is dedicated to Consolidated Cryptologic Program”, (Poulsen, 2014, par.4). The National Security Agency has to make every effort to ensure that the security of the American people is paramount and that they take all measures necessary. It has now been discovered that terror networks and criminal organizations are now using more sophisticated means to pass messages to their agents. This is done through encrypted messages, emails and videos which in most cases contain content that is dangerous and unpatriotic. Cryptology aims to intercept, decipher, analyze and store information and communication from satellites from international and domestic networks. The equipment is able to keep records of an individual’s personal life and includes purchase receipts, cell phone conversations and digital footprints left by people accessing the internet. This information is later used when conducting investigations and in most cases is able to net terror groups planning attacks on the mainland. Cryptanalysis is essential in national security as it prevents surprise attacks and military humiliations of the defense forces. Bamford observes that, “the NSA has in the past suffered humiliating surprise attacks, from the cold war era, to the bombing of the World Trade Centre, attack on US embassies in East Africa and 9/11 among others”, ( Bamford, 2014, par.7). Edward Snowden the famous NSA whistleblower exposed the US government’s encryption breaking secrets that specifically target internet traffic. The NSA discovered a bug in the way specific programs implement their cryptographic protocols and they patched up the software in order to crack the codes. The Economist states that, “electronic cryptology relies on the fact that some mathematical operations can be easily done in one direction but would not be completed in the reverse”, (The Economist, 2013, par.5). They give an example that when one multiplies two prime numbers it is easy to get a third colossal number but that it would then be difficult to analyze the number produced to determine its prime factors. This then means that cryptology becomes necessary to break mathematical codes in internet related communication that are not commonly used. Cryptology relies on a super computer built to specifically speed up integer factorization so that they match up to the existing security infrastructure available on the internet. Ball et al observe that the US and British intelligence agencies have been able to successfully crack most of the encryption codes used by people to protect their personal data and private communications online, (Ball, 2013, par.1). This is done by inserting backdoors or what is also referred to as trapdoors into software that is commercially used by the general public. The NSA is spending approximately 250 million dollars a year to ensure that intelligence and security apparatus are kept up to date and in this way reduce the instances of surprise terrorist and criminal attacks. There are security and privacy issues that arise out of cryptology as information gathered by the computers is stored in one central database in the NSA. This leaves private information open to exposure should there be whistleblowers like Snowden. The leaking of private and personal information goes beyond protecting national security as in some cases the recording involves other national governments some who are allies. It is then embarrassing and difficulty for the government to explain and give reasonable explanations as to why they were tapped or why sensitive diplomatic and national security information was collected by the NSA. Challenges of Cryptography: It has now been proved that any cryptographic system is only as strong as the algorithms, digital signatures and the authentication codes that it relies on. Cryptology relies on its ability to break any of these codes so as to have access to the information concealed and embedded. In the same way that cryptology breaks codes; weak cryptologic systems can also be broken where they do not have strong algorithms and protocols supporting them. Security apparatus must therefore ensure that they do not make the mistake of not checking the values and making the mistake of reusing random parameters that should not be reused at all. It is important to note that encryption algorithms do not necessarily provide data integrity and in most cases, both parties do not receive the same key. Other security breaches may occur because some cryptographic keys may be broken irrespective of how secure the individual cryptographic key was. Another challenge is that there is a weakness in the random number generators which could pose a threat and can be broken. It is difficult to design effective and good random number generators because the software depends highly on the hardware and software in use. With a large number of computer programs, hardware and software, it then becomes difficult to ensure that the cryptographic keys will work with all systems. There can be no foolproof idea that this is the case, hence weaknesses occur and they are then breached. Were there a situation where the software developed was standard and in such a way that it fit all algorithms, then it would then be easy to say that the random number generators were safe and could not be broken at all. Most of the cryptographic keys are very strong but the weakness comes in the random number generators. There have been continuous attacks by internet hackers and developers on the random number generators. Although studies have shown that random number generators may not be attacked by some systems, others may not be very secure and will be attacked. There are also problems of implementation as some encryption programs do not ensure that the plaintext data they acquire is destroyed once it has been encrypted. These are acquired when systems use temporary files to protect in instances of data loss when the system crashes and to increase the available memory. The measures taken leave plaintext exposed and accessible on the hard drive and can easily be manipulated. In other cases, the operating system in computers leave keys on the hard drive in the form of passwords that are easily broken by the user interface. Schneier states that, “there are times when systems use master keys and also one time session keys, where one is strong and the other is weak, the system is then broken by using partial information of the different keys”, (Schneier, 1998, par.9). Other weaknesses arise on reliance on user generated passwords as most people do not choose strong passwords as they may not remember them. Where the password is a key, then it is easy to crack the cryptographic algorithm. Where the systems limit the characters of the passwords the security situation makes it even more risky. Hardware normally used for smartcards, electronic wallets and dongles is also susceptible as most people assume that the hardware would not be susceptible to attacks as it is secure. Software systems assume that desktops would be secure without realizing that Trojan horse software can crack passwords and circumvent most security systems provided. The fact that computer programs and software relies on cryptography does not necessarily mean that it is secure, as it can be broken if not secured in the right way. Conclusion: It is clear that Cryptography plays a very integral role not only in securing sensitive government information but at the same time in advancing national security. Cryptology is an important advancement in technology. In a day and age where people are very keen on computer programs and able to hack into national security databases, it is now more important than ever to ensure that this information is encrypted. Seeing that there is weakness in the cryptologic systems, data analysts and cryptologists must ensure that they write programs that are fool proof. In the same way that no one wants a thief having their bank details, we also do not want terrorists having sensitive national security information. Technology serves peoples purposes and it must then be used in the best way possible. References: Ball, J., Borger, J. and Greenwald, G. (2013). Revealed: How US and UK Spy Agencies Defeat Internet Privacy and Security. The Guardian. Retrieved from: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/sep/05/nsa-gchq-encryption-codes-security. Bamford, J. (2014). The NSA is Building the Country’s Biggest Spy Center (Watch what you Say). Wired. Retrieved from: http://www.wired.com/2012/03/ff_nsadatacenter/. Poulsen, K. (2014). New Snowden Leak Reports Groundbreaking NSA Crypto-Cracking. Wired. Retrieved from: http://www.wired.com/2013/08/black-budget/. Schneier, B. (1998). Security Pitfalls in Cryptography. Schneier on Security. Retrieved from: https://www.schneier.com/essay-028.html. “The Economist”. (2013). Breaking Cryptography: The NSA Crypto Breakthrough. Retrieved From: http://www.economist.com/blogs/babbage/2013/09/breaking-cryptography. Read More