[8582] in cryptography@c2.net mail archive
Feds complain about Osama bin Laden using crypto, stego
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Declan McCullagh)
Wed Feb 7 12:21:16 2001
Date: Wed, 7 Feb 2001 11:36:33 -0500
From: Declan McCullagh <declan@well.com>
To: cryptography@c2.net
Message-ID: <20010207113633.C14445@cluebot.com>
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The article that sparked the fuss, by Jack Kelly of USA Today:
http://www.usatoday.com/life/cyber/tech/2001-02-05-binladen.htm
>WASHINGTON =97 Hidden in the X-rated pictures on several pornographic Web=
=20
>sites and the posted comments on sports chat rooms may lie the encrypted=
=20
>blueprints of the next terrorist attack against the United States or its=
=20
>allies. It sounds farfetched, but U.S. officials and experts say it's the=
=20
>latest method of communication being used by Osama bin Laden and his=20
>associates to outfox law enforcement.
That seems to be a reference to steganography applications.
More:
http://www.cluebot.com/article.pl?sid=3D01/02/06/196253&mode=3Dthread
http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,41658,00.html
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/16684.html
Some history:
http://www.politechbot.com/p-00232.html
http://www.politechbot.com/cgi-bin/politech.cgi?name=3Dterrorists
-Declan
**********
Date: Tue, 06 Feb 2001 14:39:11 -0600
To: declan@well.com
From: GriffJon <camfield@austin.rr.com>
Subject: fnords rampant in coverage of bin Laden's crypto usage
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http://www.usatoday.com/life/cyber/tech/2001-02-05-binladen.htm
"Uncrackable encryption is allowing terrorists =97 Hamas, Hezbollah, al-Qai=
da
and others =97 to communicate about their criminal=20
intentions without fear of
outside intrusion," FBI Director Louis Freeh said last=20
March during
closed-door testimony on terrorism before a Senate panel.=
=20
"They're thwarting
the efforts of law enforcement to detect, prevent and=20
investigate illegal
activities."
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/technology/AP-Terrorists-Internet.html ,
``To a greater and greater degree, terrorist groups, including Hezbollah,
Hamas and bin Laden's al Qaida group, are using computerized fil=
es,
e-mail and encryption to support their operations,'' CIA=20
Director George
Tenet wrote last March to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Reuters via wired http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,41650,00.html
"We will use whatever tools we can -- e-mails, the Internet -- to
facilitate jihad against the (Israeli) occupiers=
=20
and their supporters,"
the paper quoted Sheik Ahmed Yassin, the founder=
=20
of the militant
Muslim group Hamas, as saying in a recent=20
interview in the Gaza
Strip. "We have the best minds working with us."
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