SUBHEAD: WikiLeaks uploads 1.4 gigabyte encrypted mystery "Insurance" file.
Image above: Julien Assange speaks in public to a group in Coppenhagen on 17 November 2009. From (http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archivo:Julian_Assange_20091117_Copenhagen_1.jpg).By Andy Carling on 31 July 2010 in Neurope -(http://www.neurope.eu/articles/WikiLeaks-founder-uploads-mystery-file/102093.php)
After leaking 92,000 classified US military documents, Julian Assange, the founder of the whistle blowing website, has uploaded a file called “insurance” to the website and elsewhere. The file is 1.4 gigabytes, a thousand times larger than the recently leaked documents.
The file is encrypted under AES256, which is equal to the methods used by the US government to encrypt Top Secret material. It is estimated that even the fastest computer would take millions of years to decrypt the file.
It is believed that Assange, who is under intense scrutiny by the US, may have distributed the pass key to supporters, who could release it to the public. However, the talented former hacker would realize that this could place supporters in a difficult position.
In earlier times, Assande co-invented what he calls "Rubberhose deniable encryption", a method that uses encryption to hide the amount of data or files, enabling a person to surrender one key, that would release harmless documents, without revealing the existence of other files. He said he developed the concept, "as a tool for human rights workers who needed to protect sensitive data in the field".
The contents of the file are unknown. However, the recent release of documents, detailing the coalition’s experiences in Afghanistan, are not part of the 500,000 documents from Iraq, alleged to have been sent to WikLeaks by Bradley Manning, who is currently held in the US. Manning is also accused of passing a video of an incident in Garani, in Afghanistan, that local authorities say killed 100 civilians, most of them, children, were killed during a helicopter assault. Also included were 260,000 U.S. State Department cables.
Leaks criticized for putting informants in danger
There has been criticism over the leak of the Afghan war logs, with US Defense Secretary Robert Gates pleaded for an end to the disclosures,
"The battlefield consequences of the release of these documents are potentially severe and dangerous for our troops, our allies, and Afghan partners, and may well damage our relationships and reputation in that key part of the world.
Claiming that the leak would expose informants and Afghanis working with the coalition soldiers, who would be put at risk by having their actions made public, Admiral. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that Assange and WikiLeaks may “already have on their hands the blood of some young soldier or that of an Afghan family.”
An angry Assange responded by asking,
“Why is the Pentagon focusing on the hypothetical blood on our hands, which has never been proved, rather than the real blood of the 20,000 deaths revealed in the documents?”
The top whistle blower, also criticized the US for “sloppy” and “unprofessional” security. WikiLeaks only uses code names internally for sources. Assange criticized the accessibility of the documents, saying, the information, including names of informants, “was available to every member of the U.S. military and every U.S. contractor — not just in Afghanistan — but all over the world. The military has acted in a disgraceful and careless way.”
This view was supported by Robert Berry, a former CIA officer, “It’s plain sloppy, there is no other interpretation of it,” adding that, “you never, never, never have the names of informants” in reports that are widely accessible.
Taliban Spokesperson, Zabiullah Mujahid told UK Channel 4 News, that they were examining the leaked documents,
"We knew about the spies and people who collaborate with US forces. We will investigate through our own secret service whether the people mentioned are really spies working for the US. If they are US spies, then we know how to punish them."
Well, Juan, it appears as though the military has been banned from IB too, by extention:
"All branches of the Unites States military are now banning their personnel from looking at the WikiLeaks site whether from government or personal computers."
and further...
"The Pentagon keeps asking for the “return” of the documents. How, exactly, is Wikileaks to “return” digitized documents, documents that are still being served right now. How many people, all over the world, have already downloaded the documents? How many of these people have made copies of the documents? The documents will be traded on BitTorrent, on Usenet, on Rapidshare, on IRC, snippets printed on t-shirts (remember DeCSS t-shirts back in the day?)…
The documents are out there. Full stop. Asking people to “return” the documents, or to “get rid of them,” it’s a complete joke. I’m not saying that’s right or wrong, but that’s the reality of the situation."
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Image above: Julien Assange speaks in public to a group in Coppenhagen on 17 November 2009. From (http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archivo:Julian_Assange_20091117_Copenhagen_1.jpg).
By Andy Carling on 31 July 2010 in Neurope -
(http://www.neurope.eu/articles/WikiLeaks-founder-uploads-mystery-file/102093.php)
After leaking 92,000 classified US military documents, Julian Assange, the founder of the whistle blowing website, has uploaded a file called “insurance” to the website and elsewhere. The file is 1.4 gigabytes, a thousand times larger than the recently leaked documents.
The file is encrypted under AES256, which is equal to the methods used by the US government to encrypt Top Secret material. It is estimated that even the fastest computer would take millions of years to decrypt the file.
It is believed that Assange, who is under intense scrutiny by the US, may have distributed the pass key to supporters, who could release it to the public. However, the talented former hacker would realize that this could place supporters in a difficult position.
In earlier times, Assande co-invented what he calls "Rubberhose deniable encryption", a method that uses encryption to hide the amount of data or files, enabling a person to surrender one key, that would release harmless documents, without revealing the existence of other files. He said he developed the concept, "as a tool for human rights workers who needed to protect sensitive data in the field".
The contents of the file are unknown. However, the recent release of documents, detailing the coalition’s experiences in Afghanistan, are not part of the 500,000 documents from Iraq, alleged to have been sent to WikLeaks by Bradley Manning, who is currently held in the US. Manning is also accused of passing a video of an incident in Garani, in Afghanistan, that local authorities say killed 100 civilians, most of them, children, were killed during a helicopter assault. Also included were 260,000 U.S. State Department cables.
Leaks criticized for putting informants in danger
There has been criticism over the leak of the Afghan war logs, with US Defense Secretary Robert Gates pleaded for an end to the disclosures,
1 comment :
Well, Juan, it appears as though the military has been banned from IB too, by extention:
"All branches of the Unites States military are now banning their personnel from looking at the WikiLeaks site whether from government or personal computers."
and further...
"The Pentagon keeps asking for the “return” of the documents. How, exactly, is Wikileaks to “return” digitized documents, documents that are still being served right now. How many people, all over the world, have already downloaded the documents? How many of these people have made copies of the documents? The documents will be traded on BitTorrent, on Usenet, on Rapidshare, on IRC, snippets printed on t-shirts (remember DeCSS t-shirts back in the day?)…
The documents are out there. Full stop. Asking people to “return” the documents, or to “get rid of them,” it’s a complete joke. I’m not saying that’s right or wrong, but that’s the reality of the situation."
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