In today’s installment of this ongoing soap opera, Indian Government officials have admitted (because Canada pointed it out to them) that it can’t decrypt anything that uses anything above 40 bit encryption. That includes on-line banking (typically 128 – bit), Skype (256-bit AES), and of course the BlackBerry (256-bit AES) to name a few things that are typically encrypted.
Their way of solving this? Have everybody use 40-bit encryption:
“The DoT had earlier asked all ISPs to slash encryption levels from the 128-bit standard to a 40-bit level, but we have been unable to do so. This is because, more commercial portals, some of which are also owned by government departments such as the Railways, Indian Airlines, telecom PSUs all offer services at the 128-bit encryption standards. Before we scale it down to the 40-bit, these portals must rework their facility for online commercial transactions,” explained an official with the internet service providers association of India (ISPAI), the body representing all internet service providers in India. Globally, the 128-bit standard is followed for all online transactions. DoT sources also say that once the BlackBerry issue is addressed, the department will come down heavily on all portals and ISPs whose encryption standards were beyond the 40-bit. This will mean the ultra-cheap internet telephony services offered by Skpe and other such global majors will soon be under the government’s scrutiny. The larger implication in that all commercial transactions over the mobile handset or via the internet in India will be subject to a mere 40-bit encryption, making them unsafe, when compared to the standards followed globally.”
So let me get this straight…. These jokers want everybody to drop to a very low level of security that can be hacked by any 12 year old with a botnet so that they can spy when required. Are you kidding me? That’s just incredibly dumb if you ask me.
RIM needs to take a stand here. They need to get the Indian Government to get a clue see the error of its’ ways and abandon this idea before it makes itself a laughing stock shoots itself in the foot. If the Indian government isn’t willing to jump on board, then RIM needs to fold up shop and go home. While that’s easy for me to say, it’s exactly what has to happen.
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This entry was posted on May 8, 2008 at 9:40 am and is filed under Commentary with tags India, RIM. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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India Wants RIM To Use 40-Bit Encryption…. How Lame.
In today’s installment of this ongoing soap opera, Indian Government officials have admitted (because Canada pointed it out to them) that it can’t decrypt anything that uses anything above 40 bit encryption. That includes on-line banking (typically 128 – bit), Skype (256-bit AES), and of course the BlackBerry (256-bit AES) to name a few things that are typically encrypted.
Their way of solving this? Have everybody use 40-bit encryption:
“The DoT had earlier asked all ISPs to slash encryption levels from the 128-bit standard to a 40-bit level, but we have been unable to do so. This is because, more commercial portals, some of which are also owned by government departments such as the Railways, Indian Airlines, telecom PSUs all offer services at the 128-bit encryption standards. Before we scale it down to the 40-bit, these portals must rework their facility for online commercial transactions,” explained an official with the internet service providers association of India (ISPAI), the body representing all internet service providers in India. Globally, the 128-bit standard is followed for all online transactions. DoT sources also say that once the BlackBerry issue is addressed, the department will come down heavily on all portals and ISPs whose encryption standards were beyond the 40-bit. This will mean the ultra-cheap internet telephony services offered by Skpe and other such global majors will soon be under the government’s scrutiny. The larger implication in that all commercial transactions over the mobile handset or via the internet in India will be subject to a mere 40-bit encryption, making them unsafe, when compared to the standards followed globally.”
So let me get this straight…. These jokers want everybody to drop to a very low level of security that can be hacked by any 12 year old with a botnet so that they can spy when required. Are you kidding me? That’s just incredibly dumb if you ask me.
RIM needs to take a stand here. They need to get the Indian Government to get a clue see the error of its’ ways and abandon this idea before it makes itself a laughing stock shoots itself in the foot. If the Indian government isn’t willing to jump on board, then RIM needs to fold up shop and go home. While that’s easy for me to say, it’s exactly what has to happen.
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This entry was posted on May 8, 2008 at 9:40 am and is filed under Commentary with tags India, RIM. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.