CybersecurityDigital privacy services enjoying a surge in demand

Published 3 December 2013

Digital privacy services such as encrypted e-mail, secure instant messaging, and services that provide hard-to-track IP addresses are enjoying a surge in demand as individuals and businesses seek to protect information from spies and hackers in the wake of the National Security Agency’s (NSA) surveillance program revelations. These services promise security, but may also slow down computer performance. Moreover, they are not likely to deter those who are determined to hack into a particular computer network.

Digital privacy services such as encrypted e-mail, secure instant messaging, and services that provide hard-to-track IP addresses are enjoying a surge in demand as individuals and businesses seek to protect information from spies and hackers in the wake of the National Security Agency’s (NSA) surveillance program revelations.

Yahoo News reports that experts say these services promise security, but that they may also slow down computer performance. Moreover, these services are not likely to deter those who are determined to hack into a particular computer network.

The new geek wars between tech industry programmers and government agents, fraudsters, and hackers will create many more privacy services, but computer networks and digital devices are still at risk from savvy hackers. “Every time a situation like this erupts you’re going to have a frenzy of snake oil sellers who are going to throw their products into the street,” says Carson Sweet, CEO of San Francisco-based data storage security firm CloudPassage. “It’s quite a quandary for the consumer.”

Revelations of the NSA surveillance program have led companies and government agencies to upgrade their encryption. Government leaders in France, Germany, Brazil, and Spain have called for better encryption. Yahoo and Google both had their data center communication lines monitored, and both are improving their encryption and online security.

Yahoo has never given access to our data centers to the NSA or to any other government agency. Ever,” according to Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer in a 18 November 2013 post on Yahoo’s Tumblr blog, announcing plans to encrypt all of the company’s services by early next year. “There is nothing more important to us than protecting our users’ privacy.”

Yahoo News notes that encryption is not meant to keep hackers out, but effective encryption will alter the way messages look, allowing the intended message to be viewed only by those with an encryption code. The many encryption software tools available to individuals and businesses vary in service and quality. Several software tools have experienced bugs and faults in their development.

Nadim Kobeissi, developed Cryptocat, an encrypted instant messaging service launched in 2011 as an alternative to Facebook chat and Skype. Cryptocat’s ease of use received favorable reviews, but researchers discovered an error in the program’s code which may have exposed users’ communications.

Heml.is, a secure messaging app for mobile phones, encountered difficulties and consumer complaints when the service’s developers announced that they would not use an open source code. “The fundamental designers of cryptography are in an arms race right now, but there are a series of weaknesses and missing oversights that have nothing to do with encryption that leave people vulnerable,” says Patrick Peterson, CEO of Silicon Valley-based e-mail security firm Agari. “And many that do work, bog down or freeze computers, forcing “a trade-off between security and convenience,” he says.

Experts say most attacks are results of negligence by network users. Opening attachments from phishing e-mails or clicking on malicious links can provide hackers access to computer systems. Experts also agree that with the proper resources, any encryption can be broken by a skilled computer programmer.

Reports based on Snowden’s disclosures conclude that the NSA has cracked or bypassed much of the encryption used by businesses and individuals. According to the reports, the NSA has invested billions of dollars since 2000 to access all network systems for the purpose of allowing the agency access. The NSA’s planned $1.7 billion data center in Utah is equipped with supercomputers designed to store classified information which includes data awaiting encryption.

Paris-based Bouygues Telecom requested Pogoplug, its San Francisco-based data storage provider, to move its data center out of the United States in an attempt to make certain Bouygues Telecom’s data does not fall under U.S. laws, which may make company data available upon government request. PogoPlug’s CEO Daniel Putterman has agreed to move the multi-million dollar data center to France. “They want French law to apply, not U.S. law,” says Putterman, who is also arranging a similar move for an Israeli client.