FBI director describes secure encryption a huge problem


Ars Technica:

FBI Director Christopher Wray told a conference of law enforcement officials on Sunday that he and his colleagues have been unable to open nearly 7,000 digital devices in the first 11 months of the 2017 fiscal year.

"To put it mildly, this is a huge, huge problem," Wray said at the International Association of Chiefs of Police conference in Philadelphia, according to the Associated Press. "It impacts investigations across the board--narcotics, human trafficking, counterterrorism, counterintelligence, gangs, organized crime, child exploitation."

Director Wray said that there needs to be a balance between encryption and public safety. That balance would seem to most likely involve a third party such as the government or corporations holding a secure key to access encrypted data. Unfortunately there hasn't been a great track record of either corporations or the government with digital security.