The legal battle between Apple and the FBI over the Federal Government’s right to require built-in smartphone encryption software that could aid law enforcement investigations might be coming to an end, but the debate is just heating up on Capitol Hill and now over in Europe where recent terrorist attacks have law enforcement pushing for access to digital data.
Tripwire recently took a survey of 198 security professionals attending the RSA Conference 2016. Of those surveyed, 82 percent of respondents said it is either very likely or certain that cybercriminals would abuse the government’s capability to access encrypted data if technology companies are required to provide it.
Tim Erlin, Director of IT Security and Risk Strategy for Tripwire told @DFMag,
“The encryption debate is truly a collision of politics and technology. It’s as if the two sides speak completely different languages. While one side of the debate demands legislated access to encrypted data, the other side expounds how it’s not technically feasible without compromising encryption generally.
The question of government access to encrypted data is the tip of the spear for an ongoing battle over the trustworthiness of government. The majority of citizens want to catch terrorists and other criminals, but they also don’t trust law enforcement, or government generally, not to abuse such access.”
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