Front Page Talking Points

FOR THE WEEK OF SEP. 09, 2013

Spy agencies defeat Internet encryption

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1.gifUse newspaper articles to discover how encryption works and how it is commonly used. How often do you use Internet encryption?

2.gifWhat are your Congress members and senators are telling reporters about NSA surveillance programs and Edward J. Snowden's actions?

3.gifFind newspaper reports about hackers stealing trade secrets and personal financial information on the Internet.

The National Security Agency (NSA) has secretly circumvented or cracked much of the encryption that protects commerce, banking, trade secrets, medical records, e-mails, Web searches, Internet chats and phone calls, according to newly disclosed documents. In some cases the NSA collaborated with technology companies to insert “back doors” into encryption software, while in other cases it hacked into company servers to get encryption keys, according to documents provided by former NSA contractor Edward J. Snowden.

The NSA's mission is to intercept and decode communications from terrorists and rival nations to uncover plots and threats aginst the United States. Code breaking helped the United States and its allies win World War II as well as aided in tracking down modern terrorists. But, some experts worry NSA's campaign to bypass and weaken encryption could undermine the security of U.S. communications and expose American Internet users to attacks by hackers.

The documents stated that the program needed absolute secrecy to be effective. Intelligence officials asked the Guardian, New York Times and ProPublica not to publish reports on the program saying that it might prompt foreign targets to switch to new forms of encryption or communications that would be harder to collect or read. The newspapers removed some specific facts but decided to publish because of the value of a public debate about the program.

NSA says: The program is designed to "insert vulnerabilities into commercial encryption systems ... To the consumer and other adversaries, however, the systems' security remains intact." -- Agency documents.

British spy agency says: "For the past decade, NSA has led an aggressive, multi-pronged effort to break widely used Internet encryption technologies." -- Government Communications Headquarters.

Cryptography expert says: "The risk is that when you build a back door into systems, you're not the only one to exploit it. Those back doors could work against U.S. communications, too." -- Matthew Green, Johns Hopkins University.

Front Page Talking Points is written by Alan Stamm for NIEonline.com, Copyright 2024

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Common Core State Standard
SL.CCS.1/2/3/4 Grades 6-12: An essay of a current news event is provided for discussion to encourage participation, but also inspire the use of evidence to support logical claims using the main ideas of the article. Students must analyze background information provided about a current event within the news, draw out the main ideas and key details, and review different opinions on the issue. Then, students should present their own claims using facts and analysis for support.