[12859] in Cypherpunks
Re: Security Consult. Needed
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Ed Carp)
Mon May 2 12:11:06 1994
Date: Mon, 2 May 1994 09:05:25 -0700 (PDT)
From: Ed Carp <ecarp@netcom.com>
To: Duncan Frissell <frissell@panix.com>
Cc: CYPHERPUNKS@toad.com
In-Reply-To: <199405021356.AA14925@panix.com>
On Mon, 2 May 1994, Duncan Frissell wrote:
> Two recent incidents in NYC show massive market failure in the
> information security industry.
You mean, marketing PGP to criminals?
> One of the city's largest bookies was busted when the Feds intercepted the
> daily fax transmissions summarizing business results sent from his NY
> office to his Florida home.
>
> A major cocaine dealer is facing prosecution based on written transaction
> records seized at his office. His simple code was broken by a "known
> plaintext attack" when investigators were able to match his written
> notations with transaction information derived from wiretaps.
>
> Can't anyone help these people? Maybe 178th Street needs PGP and Secure
> Drive more than the PC Expo.
Be careful with this line of reasoning. If you market PGP to a crook for
the explicit purpose of keeping his illegal activities hidden from the
cops, you violate at least two different laws. It's like selling lock
picks to a known burglar. You could be prosecuted for conspiracy, aiding
and abetting, and whatever they call interference with a police
investigation nowadays.
