Feds Use Key Logger to Thwart PGP, Hushmail

["Paul Ferguson" <fergdawg () netzero net>]

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Via the C|Net News Blog.

[snip]

A recent court case provides a rare glimpse into how some federal agents
deal with encryption: by breaking into a suspect's home or office,
implanting keystroke-logging software, and spying on what happens from
afar.

An agent with the Drug Enforcement Administration persuaded a federal judge
to authorize him to sneak into an Escondido, Calif., office believed to be
a front for manufacturing the drug MDMA, or Ecstasy. The DEA received
permission to copy the hard drives' contents and inject a keystroke logger
into the computers.

That was necessary, according to DEA Agent Greg Coffey, because the
suspects were using PGP and the encrypted Web e-mail service Hushmail.com.
Coffey asserted that the DEA needed "real-time and meaningful access" to
"monitor the keystrokes" for PGP and Hushmail passphrases.

The aggressive surveillance techniques employed by the DEA were part of a
case that resulted in a ruling on Friday by the 9th Circuit Court of
Appeals, which primarily dealt with Internet surveillance through a wiretap
conducted on a PacBell (now AT&T) business DSL line used by the defendants.

[snip]

More:
http://news.com.com/8301-10784_3-9741357-7.html

- - ferg

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--
"Fergie", a.k.a. Paul Ferguson
 Engineering Architecture for the Internet
 fergdawg(at)netzero.net
 ferg's tech blog: http://fergdawg.blogspot.com/


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