Crypto Blamed for US terrorist attack - World Exclusive

[Florian Weimer]

Nick Barnes <Nick.Barnes@pobox.com> writes:

> I see no evidence of this whatsoever.  There seem to have been between
> 10 and 20 hijackers actually on the planes (3-5 on each: the reports
> from the Pennsylvania flight strongly indicate 3).  Given the total
> lack of prior intelligence, it seems more likely to me that this was a
> mid-sized terrorist group, with no more than 500 active members.
> Undoubtedly using crypto to communicate, FWIW.

Why do you think so?  If these people regularly used crypto and
anonymous remailers (they would have to, because everyone exchanging
encrypted messages with Bin Laden directly probably makes himself a
target for observation, and observation is much easier if he is a
resident of a Western country), they would probably own a computeer.

So far, I have not read reports that any computers were seized.  Do
you really think they used public computers to read and send these
messages?  This seems much too dangerous to me, and if they did, the
intelligence agencies certainly would have found ways to penetrate
this network.

I gues such people rely on personal communication and prefabricated
messages.  Encrypted communication over the Internet is fast, but
these people have plenty of time, and there is probably no real
network, so long-distance information flow is not essential.

> I cannot imagine any government anywhere conniving at this.  Iraq?
> Libya?  North Korea?  Surely even the Taleban are not so foolish.

Government support is not needed for such operations.  You only need
some money, which you recover by buying the appropriate stock options
before the actual attack.

-- 
Florian Weimer 	                  Florian.Weimer@RUS.Uni-Stuttgart.DE
University of Stuttgart           http://cert.uni-stuttgart.de/
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