Subject: [Raven] Espionage and security

From: "Brett Wooldridge" <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 5 Nov 1999 14:34:10 -0600

Let's disregard Law Enforcement entirely for a minute.

Wiretap and traffic analysis are used and abused in industrial
espionage with a frequency that may overshadow, even today, such
instances performed by LE.  Due to it's nature (crime), you only
know about it if someone gets caught -- so estimating it's
pervasiveness is difficult.  But industrial espionage is 

The amount of commercial commerce performed on the Internet,
currently in the tens of billions of dollars, is projected by all
accounts to exceed two trillion dollars worldwide by 2003.

The motivation and opportunity for electronic crime, perpetrated
via wiretap and equally traffic analysis of IP traffic, is nearly two
orders of magnitude greater.

It is ludicrous on it's face to argue that tap-ability and traffic analysis
will prevent more crimes than it allows in the long run.  A warrant
can only be obtained for a crime of which you are aware is on-going.
Like drug smuggling, you never know how many shipments you are
missing.  It IS estimated that less than 10% of such crimes are
detected.

However, protocols that are untappable and highly resistant to traffic
analysis (much debate about implementation here), while hindering
LE investigations in some small ways, will prevent far, far, more crimes
by denying criminals the same.

To quote FBI Director Louis Freeh from a Reuters story:

  "A nation's power is increasingly measured by economic
  prosperity at home and competitiveness abroad. And in some ways,
  the United States is a sitting duck for countries and individuals who
  want to take a short cut to power."

  "We had $1.5 trillion invested in research and development during
   the 1980's alone. We also have an open society and a devotion to
   free market principles that can make it relatively easy to steal
   secrets and technology."

  [At least 20 nations are] "actively engaged in economic espionage."

  "This kind of information [cost and price structure, research and
  development results, marketing plans, bids and customer lists] can
  be intercepted from fax and satellite communications. It can be
  monitored from cellular and microwave telephone links. It can be
  retrieved from inadequately protected computer systems."

From USA TODAY, February 10, 1999:

  The FBI and the US. Chamber of Commerce announced an initiative
  Tuesday to work together to coordinate a campaign of education and
  enforcement.

  They say U. S. companies lose about $2 billion a month to corporate
  espionage. But that's a loose estimate. About 95% of losses either go
  undetected or are hushed up by companies that don't want customers
  to know of their vulnerability or fear they may be forced to reveal even
  more information in the discovery phase of a criminal action. 

Brett Wooldridge

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