It was only a matter of time before we learned that the NSA has managed to thwart much of the encryption that protects telephone and online communication, but new revelations show the extent to which the agency, and Britain’s GCHQ, have gone to systematically undermine encryption. […]
Most surprising, however, is the revelation that the agency has worked to covertly undermine the encryption standards developers rely upon […]
“The encryption technologies that the NSA has exploited to enable its secret dragnet surveillance are the same technologies that protect our most sensitive information, including medical records, financial transactions, and commercial secrets,” Christopher Soghoian, principal technologist of the ACLU’s Speech, Privacy and Technology Project, said in a statement about the revelations. “Even as the NSA demands more powers to invade our privacy in the name of cybersecurity, it is making the internet less secure and exposing us to criminal hacking, foreign espionage, and unlawful surveillance. The NSA’s efforts to secretly defeat encryption are recklessly shortsighted and will further erode not only the United States’ reputation as a global champion of civil liberties and privacy but the economic competitiveness of its largest companies.” […]
http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2013/09/nsa-backdoored-and-stole-keys/