28 January 1999. Thanks to Anonymous (2).
National Criminal Intelligence Service
Embargoed until 16:30 Tuesday 26th January 1999
02/99
26
January 1999
The Director General of the National Criminal Intelligence Service (NCIS) today called upon the Government to ensure that it made it as difficult as possible for criminals to exploit the use of encryption for their own purposes.
Speaking at the NCIS HQ in London, John Abbott said:
"We fully support the lawful use of encryption, its use for confidentiality will prevent various forms of crime: fraud, theft of intellectual property and hacking.
"Cryptography also clearly provides benefits to commerce, industry and individuals. But it also provides new opportunities for criminals. Criminals have always been quick to take advantage of any new technologies and the have already started to exploit encryption in an effort to defeat the work of law enforcement agencies.
"A number of recent investigations into a variety of serious criminal offences in the UK have been hampered by the discovery that material which might otherwise assist the investigation, or be used in evidence, has been encrypted. The problem is increasing.
"We are therefore asking the Government to safeguard our existing powers by allowing us to apply for access to the decryption keys where we already have lawful access to material belonging to people strongly suspected of serious crime. We are not asking for copies of everybody's keys; nor are we asking for any new powers -- we are merely asking that a copy of the key is kept with a trusted third party so that if we need it, we can go to them with a warrant to obtain it."
-END-
1. Early in 1998 police enquiries into an attempted murder and sexual assault were impeded by the discovery of encrypted material on a suspect's computer. The investigator was able to proceed only after the material encryption key was discovered by the police amongst other material seized from the suspect.
2. There are numerous examples of paedophiles using encryption to conceal illegal activity from the attentions of law enforcement. In 1995, for example, two suspected paedophiles were arrested in the UK on suspicion of distributing child pornography on the Internet. Their computer systems were found to contain pornographic images of children and, in the case of the leading suspect, a large amount of encrypted material. The indications were that the suspects had used encrypted communications to distribute child pornography to contacts round the world via email. Although both paedophiles were subsequently convicted of distributing child pornography, the police investigation into the leading suspect was severely hampered by the fact that he had used encryption.
3. There are already examples of terrorists in the UK using encryption as a means of concealing their activities. In late 1996, a police operation culminated in the arrests of several leading members of a terrorist group and the seizure of computer equipment containing encrypted files. The files held information on potential terrorist targets such as police officers and politicians. The data was eventually retrieved, but only after considerable effort.
Mark Steels, Head of Corporate Communications
Gail Kent, Public Relations Officer
Telephone: 0171-238 8431
or, out of office hours, on 01399 1133 ext 786600.