WikiLeaks Posts Mysterious 'Insurance' File

WikiLeaks Posts Mysterious 'Insurance' File

www.wired.com

In the wake of strong U.S. government statements condemning WikiLeaks’ recent publishing of 77,000 Afghan War documents, the secret-spilling site has posted a mysterious encrypted file labeled “insurance.”

The huge file, posted on the Afghan War page at the WikiLeaks site, is 1.4 GB and is encrypted with AES256. The file’s size dwarfs the size of all the other files on the page combined. The file has also been posted on a torrent download site as well.

(visit the link for the full news article)

The article speculates this "insurance" file could be to protect Assange from personal wrongdoing or even the Wikileaks site itself. Nobody knows the contents but it is a very large file. Given the Pentagon's expected uneasiness about having the lid blown off several operations, this doesn't really come as a surprise. Assange has indicated on numerous occasions there is lots of additional information waiting to be made public. This file may well hold either the crown jewels or it could be a ruse to provide a means to protect Wikileaks and its supporters from potential harm.

brill

www.wired.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

Interesting. Could 1.4 Gb of random data or it could be the real deal waiting to go.

I wonder how many people are trying to brute force the password as we type?

Reminds me of that film with Sir Patrick Stewart, where he plays a retired agent of some intelligence agency. As insurance he set up a site that couldn't be brought down, and had to log into it every 24 hours, otherwise the data on it was released to the world, via a form of a dead mans switch. The idea was to protect himself.

A very interesting film. EDIT: Safe House (1995/1996). Wikileaks seem to be paralleling this idea.

[edit on 30-7-2010 by mirageofdeceit]

Wishing it was UFO disclosure
Probably won't be, probably information that will blow the lid completely off of the middle east campaign.

[snip]there was recent advance on cracking AES256 all theorical but it was on paper and looked very promising last year. I'm digging to try to find anything about it if there's any prototype codes available or enough technical infos about the attack to code something to test it...

Anyone wants to share their computer with me? we'll setup a huge cluster and bruteforce the hell out of this [snip] file I wanna see whats in there!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LOL


Mod Edit - Mod Edit: Profanity/Circumvention Of Censors – Please Review This Link.


[edit on 2-8-2010 by elevatedone]

And no one can decrypt it?

Why?

Because you don't decrypt military encryption,
military encryption decrypts you!

This proves someone is giving him the Cipher from the inside.

The only way someone could be giving him this is from like the NSA. Seriously this is messed up.

He must be a plant. Wikileaks must be a front. Obviously with NSA level decryption abilities. (He has top secret Ciphers)

No hackers in the basements are gonna break that. AES256 with a decent pass key? Holy crap man that would take forever to crack with brute force, you NEED the cipher seriously.

Who do they think they are fooling by being so blatant about this?

I did some research on this stuff too. I will share a little bit of it if anyone is interested.

Until May 2009, the only successful published attacks against the full AES were side-channel attacks on some specific implementations. The National Security Agency (NSA) reviewed all the AES finalists, including Rijndael, and stated that all of them were secure enough for U.S. Government non-classified data. In June 2003, the U.S. Government announced that AES may be used to protect classified information: The design and strength of all key lengths of the AES algorithm (i.e., 128, 192 and 256) are sufficient to protect classified information up to the SECRET level. TOP SECRET information will require use of either the 192 or 256 key lengths.The implementation of AES in products intended to protect national security systems and/or information must be reviewed and certified by NSA prior to their acquisition and use."[8] AES has 10 rounds for 128-bit keys, 12 rounds for 192-bit keys, and 14 rounds for 256-bit keys. By 2006, the best known attacks were on 7 rounds for 128-bit keys, 8 rounds for 192-bit keys, and 9 rounds for 256-bit keys

en.wikipedia.org...

But really read the whole article there it's quite fascinating.

Also, another link I read.
www.dekart.com...

Really just type in "How hard is AES 256 to crack?" into Google and tons of stuff comes up, almost all of it is extremely interesting and eye opening.

Granted I am not a expert in encryption by any means, I am just a guy who reads stuff and thinks about it

Originally posted by _R4t_
Okay now I have a huge boner... there was recent advance on cracking AES256 all theorical but it was on paper and looked very promising last year. I'm digging to try to find anything about it if there's any prototype codes available or enough technical infos about the attack to code something to test it...

Anyone wants to share their computer with me? we'll setup a huge cluster and bruteforce the hell out of this bitch file I wanna see whats in there!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LOL

I know they got through the 128 bit but I don't know about 256.

Maybe it was that related-key attack that Schneier was talking about last year? But don't related-key attacks require that the hacker observed at least some part of the use of the cipher??

Correct me if I'm wrong. I actually don't know. I am just questioning this to find answers.

And now they're trying to figure out where they left that internet kill switch... Check behind the couch billows Obama

Close to breaking it is not breaking it. It was found that AES256 could be broken in fewer rounds than AES192 with the same particular key, but it wasn't a total break of AES256, and not if you use a strong key. You must be specific about the situation in which it was found to be weak(er).

Rijendael is publicly available and not subject to patents. Who you trust to get it from is the hard part. AES is actually Rijendael in a specific configuration.

If they chose a long, complex password that does not contain words from any language or dictionary, with current processing ability the Universe will cease to exist before you get close.

[edit on 31-7-2010 by mirageofdeceit]

in a way you have to be overjoyed that someone apparently got one over on uncle sam. of course i like the whole plant theory also, it makes more sense looking at it from that angle. don't believe everything you read!

Chess begins...second line.

He's doing very well.

Now, to shore up his credibility, he needs to publish something CLEARLY not in the US's best interest.

And if they still call him a plant, well, maybe they are plants.


If Julian is -insert 3 letter US agency here - , that's ok, he still seems to be on the right side.

one way or the other, wikileaks is pretty much blackmailing the gov't.

if you punish us we will release the super secret squirrel document here that you dont want us to release!!

whither or not there is any substantial info is not important. i wonder if uncle sam will call thier bluff? lol

I sure think the plant thing is looking more probable, with this news.

It is getting to look like an X-Files episode.

reply to post by hadriana


Interesting thought, but I don't trust him after the latest leak. While it contained some mildly useful information, it also played into expanding the war into Pakistan, towards central asia. And if he is from any agency or being supported by one, the question still remains, are his motives altruistic or otherwise?

Could be that a 3 letter already has a key and knows what is in it.

If it is really messed up stuff, might even put such an agency or the people that have access in said agency.....in a position to make a judgment call.

Or it could just be the truth about Obama's mother, his birth, and his Harvard papers showing that HE himself is CIA.

Xfiles. Yeah.

Well, the truth IS out there.

No one's giving him the cypher from the "inside" anyone can encrypt in AES256 just download truecrypt of any up to date encryption software. And yeah he's doing well... the only successful attack on this would be a cold boot attack but it has to be done from a computer that just had the file running on so that the key is still stored in the ram and can be fetch before the ram is cleared.

I may be missing something. This latest release of information on the war is not what is most feared. Diplomatic communications are top secret for a reason. It is interception dialogs that can open up to the world the strategic policy in a given region.
We on ATS theorize about it , but to have it laid out in front to be viewed by the world at large...we still are looking for a conspiracy?

Insurance file. Means to me that I acknowledge your ability to reach out and touch me. Just so you know that IF you do I will piss on you from the hereafter.

Oh man... just like Hollywood.

insurance

promise of reimbursement in the case of loss

What would count as a loss? A hit on the site? A hit on Assange? Who was the file put up for? If masses download this how will the cipher be sent out in the case of 'loss'?

Once again WL, you're odor is a lot stronger than it should be.

Its total genius tho... he knows a TONS of people will download this and wait patiently... all he needs to do is give the keys to a bunch of people and have them release it if anything happens to him... He could even set one of those "message after death" site with the key to send emails to certain people if he pass way he can count on it being released...