Wikileaks have just released three insurance files

Forgive me if i am wrong here, but didn't Snowden flee to Russia with 4 laptops worth of stolen data? Wouldn't that amount of information be equivalent to what's being released here?

reply to post by Thorneblood


Interesting you say that......since there's been a lot of talk on this thread that even the NSA couldn't crack this code
I said what I said about insurance companies and Eisenhower history, and what that meant, and left it for anyone interested to put that together with what that actually means. But if anyone truly thinks the NSA doesn't have the ability to crack that code, or the info already contained therein with those "insurance" files, then they are working from a position of total naivety, IMHO, about what's been in play a very long time.

Not only that, "insurance" is a matter of WHO is being insured, and for what, against what and who.......
Tetra

reply to post by mr-lizard


So they are holding on to a bunch of secrets for what....is wiki looking to blackmail the government? If not, release the key with the download. If wiki is in favor of transparency and truth for the people release the key.

Don't waste your time downloading this crap...

I wouldn't download it, thats why i visit ATS

Originally posted by Maxatoria
Looking at the key size needed to brute force aes-256 i doubt that even the NSA has the pew to decode it by brute force but i'd imagine they'll slap a spare rig to have a go just in case they get lucky while probably using more normal techniques to see if they can get the keys from one of the people who must have it

Actually AES-256 IS NO LONGER SECURE because there are now newer software methods
to FACTOR the large integers used to create public and private keys or the intermediate
encrypt/encrypt keys.

Elliptic curve estimation or estimation of the output of fractals
could be used to ESTIMATE the sequence of iterative numerical
equations and their source factors/multipliers to create an estimated
series of integers that could represent the POSSIBLE encyrpt/decrypt keys
of the insurance file. There are a number of modern papers that outline using
these methods AND more which COULD BE USED to break the insurance file.

Originally posted by Rosinitiate
It's a game silly.....there would be no need for insurance if the all the cards were on the table. All WL has done is provide false hope.....hmmm.....I wonder why?

Ya know what's funny about that, Rosinitiate? I was in the gaming industry at one time. My speciality was as a blackjack dealer, but I was given other responsibilities and being primed for management.

The casino manager, my mentor, was a very brilliant fellow with a background in, imagine this ahem, mathematics. He gave me a bunch of books and papers that were to be my "primers."

Interestingly enough, they were, for the most part, information that related to the mathematical algorithms of the Insurance business. It turns out that Casinos base their own mathematics on the actuarial tables of the insurance game (read: gaming.)

Turns out the old adage, "The house always wins," is very true: Whether Insurance, Casinos, or the TPTB.

Originally posted by Maxatoria
Looking at the key size needed to brute force aes-256 i doubt that even the NSA has the pew to decode it by brute force but i'd imagine they'll slap a spare rig to have a go just in case they get lucky while probably using more normal techniques to see if they can get the keys from one of the people who must have it

Lol...why would the NSA need to decode them? They probably know everything contained in those files already

This is an interesting theory....
Source

At 349GB it better have a stable build of that virtual battlefield simulator Bohemia Interactive makes for the military," snarked Raul Ceja on Facebook.

This thing i take it....
VBS2

That could be cool, seems like it would work like a highly modifiable version of Call of Duty

Originally posted by NoRulesAllowed

Originally posted by Maxatoria
Looking at the key size needed to brute force aes-256 i doubt that even the NSA has the pew to decode it by brute force but i'd imagine they'll slap a spare rig to have a go just in case they get lucky while probably using more normal techniques to see if they can get the keys from one of the people who must have it

Lol...why would the NSA need to decode them? They probably know everything contained in those files already

Not picking on you in particular, but five posts before yours I said the same thing, hmmmm........ Guess it's just got to come out of someone else's mouth lately here. And yes, I absolutely plead ego here.....

Do you guys remember when Anonymous did the same gag? They released encrypted files on some judges and had a Youtube video talking up the files as something big?? Operation: Last Resort.

Here is the video:


Nothing came of that and we have all forgotten it ever happened.

Conspiracy theory:
NSA released the files and will be tracking everyone that downloads it. They will then know all the hardcore Wikileaks supporters that downloads 400gb in the name of Wikileaks.

Originally posted by LookAtThisMarsRock
Do you guys remember when Anonymous did the same gag? They released encrypted files on some judges and had a Youtube video talking up the files as something big?? Operation: Last Resort.

Here is the video:

Nothing came of that and we have all forgotten it ever happened.

Conspiracy theory:
NSA released the files and will be tracking everyone that downloads it. They will then know all the hardcore Wikileaks supporters that downloads 400gb in the name of Wikileaks.

Excellent and knowledgeable breakdown of these current events. Perhaps someone will listen to your erudite wisdom, for IMHO, you have encapsulated and broken it down very well.....
Tetra50

reply to post by tetra50


Oh, and btw, some of us have not totally entered the "mindwarp forgetting" thing.....
6th, 7th whatever

Originally posted by StargateSG7

Originally posted by Maxatoria
Looking at the key size needed to brute force aes-256 i doubt that even the NSA has the pew to decode it by brute force but i'd imagine they'll slap a spare rig to have a go just in case they get lucky while probably using more normal techniques to see if they can get the keys from one of the people who must have it

Actually AES-256 IS NO LONGER SECURE because there are now newer software methods
to FACTOR the large integers used to create public and private keys or the intermediate
encrypt/encrypt keys.

Elliptic curve estimation or estimation of the output of fractals
could be used to ESTIMATE the sequence of iterative numerical
equations and their source factors/multipliers to create an estimated
series of integers that could represent the POSSIBLE encyrpt/decrypt keys
of the insurance file. There are a number of modern papers that outline using
these methods AND more which COULD BE USED to break the insurance file.

If this were true the previous files released would be broken and well known on the internet right now. The NSA is among the best in the world at cryptography but even they aren't that far beyond the worldwide community. As proof they can't break AES256 yet, I point out that Julian Assange is alive (relevant before hiding in an embassy), and since that time hasn't been charged with anything extra relating to releasing his insurance file. If they knew what was in it, they would come after him in a very public way for what's in it.

The far more likely outcome is that sometime in the future, as a result of either hardware advances such as quantum computers a government will crack all of these files. Alternatively, as a result of mathematical advances in the form of decryption algorithms likely in the public domain someone will crack AES256 and we'll all know what's in these files.

Originally posted by LookAtThisMarsRock
Conspiracy theory:
NSA released the files and will be tracking everyone that downloads it. They will then know all the hardcore Wikileaks supporters that downloads 400gb in the name of Wikileaks.

I can debunk your conspiracy theory right now. Wikileaks admitted they released the files, assuming you're not in the camp that believes Wikileaks is actually a branch of the NSA then you have to recognize that it's not an NSA honeypot. Furthermore, they don't have to track files. Thanks to XKeyscore, PRISM, and all the rest they have a record of everything you do online already as well as all your conversations. From that it's already possible to figure out who's a Wikileaks sympathizer, and it's far more accurate too as downloading a couple of files isn't indicative of personal beliefs.

Also I would strongly assume that the government actually does know what's in the files. They probably don't know specifics but they do know subjects. The way they know? I'm absolutely certain Assange has told them. There's a simple reason for this: They need to know that you actually know something, and if you mention a subject that should be secret they know there's something to the threat.

WikiLeaks releases encrypted versions of upcoming publication data ("insurance") from time to time to nullify attempts at prior restraint.

link

Prior restraint (also referred to as prior censorship or pre-publication censorship) is censorship imposed, usually by a government, on expression before the expression actually takes place.

link

reply to post by Thorneblood


VBS2 isn't as cool as you think it is. You basically stand in front of a giant screen with a toy gun make pretending you're in a combat zone or on the range. It's neat, don't get me wrong, but it's a glorified arcade shooter.

reply to post by ElPolloPlomero


Of course.

Nothing is ever as cool as i think it is, but i still hold out hope.

reply to post by Aazadan


Geeez, people! One's thinking is led to a large extent by what one has been told. AES is hard to break -- true. It would take a long time -- true. But you don't have to break the code to know the contents unless the encryption is lossy. AES is not lossy. Do you really think the government would approve AES for release if they couldn't recover the contents?

It's obvious that all you need is a spelling correction dictionary and some servers to keep encrypting, plus a little natural language processing for common sentence structures. In this case, the search for the contents would be aided by having known documents to compare with, so only partial recovery is required. It just takes a little time but not a huge amount of time provided there are sufficient resources. And there are.

IMO, If Wikileaks has anything really good, they will share the key with NSA after x downloads have occurred. If not, they won't share the key with NSA.

reply to post by wrabbit2000

I take your point, Wrabbit, regarding this looking like some kind of PR game; but consider this: Wikileaks has continued to be a source for whistleblowers (as far as I know), and clearly various governments and corporations don't like the cut of WL's jib, and there have been past efforts to cut off funding to WL (i.e. Paypal and various credit card companies shutting down access to WL's account) as well as going after its members on criminal charges, so there must be something WL is holding over the US government's head as well as others, which keeps these countries from coming down even harder on WL. If WL were to release all the goods that it has, there would be nothing keeping said governments from going after WL; hence it is likely that WL will always keep some of its juicier stuff as insurance.

That they are releasing these files now would seem to suggest that WL is afraid of more government interference or oppression. Given the BS and PR games of governments and corporations, I'll cut WL a bit of slack in its issuance of insurance files.

As to the older insurance files of which you speak, perhaps most of what were in them has since been released. Whose to say, huh?

reply to post by MrInquisitive


Oooo i wonder if its a copy of the programs the NSA is using to spy on everyone.

XKeyScore for all!

Why WikiLeaks/Assange need "Insurance" files? This just in:

TIME reporter 'can't wait' to justify drone strike on Julian Assange