Claims encrypted Snowden files accessed now questioned

SC Magazine UK ^ | June 15, 2015 | Tom Reeve

[rickyrikardo]

While UK government officials are said to have been briefing the Sunday Times that the Russians and the Chinese have managed to “crack” the encryption on the Snowden files, cyber-security experts have been casting doubt on the credibility of the story.

The Sunday Times reported this weekend that the top-secret cache of files stolen by Edward Snowden from his former employer the NSA had been decrypted by Russia and China, forcing MI6 to pull agents out of live operations in hostile countries.

The story was built around anonymous briefings by officials from Downing Street, the Home Office and the security services.

In one of the more lurid quotes, one official said Snowden had “blood on his hands” while, in the same line, adding that there was “no evidence of anyone being harmed”.

[RayChuang88]

In short, the Chinese already done it—they don’t have some of the most powerful supercomputers on Earth nowadays for nothing.

[babygene]

“In short, the Chinese already done it—they don’t have some of the most powerful supercomputers on Earth nowadays for nothing.”

Almost all passwords that are broken are broken because they are not random. If password is random it takes a brute force attack and even the most powerful supper computers can’t do that in a reasonable time.

[SgtHooper]

The perfect bluff, and Britain blinked.

[Krosan]

There is another kind of brute force attack that works quicker.

https://xkcd.com/538/