FBI Director: Encrypted Communications ‘Big Problem’ in Fight Against Terrorism

“There are a lot of folks who have said over the past year or so that we are going to break the Internet or have unacceptable insecurity if we try to get to a place where court orders are complied with”.

“I think banning encryption is a little bit like banning guns”, said presidential candidate and U.S. Sen.

Comey referred to a shooting in May in Garland, Texas, in which two attackers with assault rifles were killed by police as they attempted to ambush an exhibit featuring cartoons of Islam’s Prophet Muhammad – an attack in which the shooters appear to have been motivated by the Islamic State group.

Comey began his testimony by telling lawmakers after his most recent talks with the tech sector, he doesn’t believe it’s a “technical issue” for companies to facilitate access to encrypted communications, since they were able to do so previously, and routinely do so for the goal of gleaning data from users to sell targeted advertisements. The question we have to ask is: “Should they change their business model?” I wouldn’t want to do anything without understanding the history that lets us slide back to that place.

Comey’s encryption comments were made as part of a long review of the FBI’s activities by the Senate committee; they start at minute 41 and last for about three minutes on the Senate hearing’s video link.

Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) testified that she didn’t agree that the decision should be left to companies, and that she would put forth a bill to give law enforcement, with a warrant, probable cause “to look into an encrypted Web”.

Comey disclosed today that on the morning of the attack, one of the shooters exchanged 109 messages with “an overseas terrorist”.

Comey called encryption a “big problem” that is thwarting investigators and pointed to the Garland, Texas shooting as an example. The U.S. government has even financed some encryption smartphone apps – including Signal, RedPhone and TextSecure – through the federal Open Technology Fund.

“In a 60 Minutes interview, President Obama declared in a response to a question about Secretary Clinton’s use of a private server, ‘I can tell you that this is not a situation in which America’s security was endangered, ‘” Grassley said.

“It’s simply impossible. Technically, it’s impossible”, Dr. Bachmann said.

Comey said many technology companies provide secure services or make “good phones” that can be unlocked and still comply with court orders. Apple rejected a court order for data about its iMessage chat system in September, citing that even the tech giant does not have a key to decrypt information from such services.