Critics: NSA agent co-chairing key crypto standards body should be removed

Security experts are calling for the removal of a National Security Agency employee who co-chairs an influential cryptography panel, which advises a host of groups that forge widely used standards for the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF).

Kevin Igoe, who in a 2011 e-mail announcing his appointment was listed as a senior cryptographer with the NSA's Commercial Solutions Center, is one of two co-chairs of the IETF's Crypto Forum Research Group (CFRG). The CFRG provides cryptographic guidance to IETF working groups that develop standards for a variety of crucial technologies that run and help secure the Internet. The transport layer security (TLS) protocol that underpins Web encryption and standards for secure shell (SSH)......

Critics: NSA agent co-chairing key crypto standards body should be removed

It appears the document holders for wiki leaks and/or Snowden have been very busy as late. this ties into my previous news find head lined

Exclusive: Secret contract tied NSA and security industry pioneer

Not only do the NSA have their finger in the pie of cryptography they have their hand in the engineering and direction of internet standards. From previous news stories it appears the whole G8 and possibly G20 are colluding in these types of enterprises or simply aiding others doing so.

Take for example Canada which was shown to have used it's good face in the world to spy for the NSA when they were under scrutiny in certain countries which would make operations more difficult for United States Agents.

The excrement is starting to hit the fan, except the fan is not pointed at we the people, but instead the people who think they can control the masses through lies and manipulation.

Thanks for posting this, it will take me a while to figure out exactly what's going on here. (If someone can dumb it down for those of us without a computer background, that'd be great).

Also see this from the same website; the comments are to the point, especially the one that notes, 'Snowden's actions have done NECESSARY damage...'

ars technica

In some fairness here, the NSA has been at the center of making and breaking cryptography since 1952 when they were chartered and formed. It's literally in their mission statement for what they do in life...and they've been behind as many innovations to the marketplace as compromises into it. It's very likely one area of effort at the NSA isn't even aware of the other and for obvious reasons of conflict......which is the whole problem IMO.

I don't have any issues with what the NSA was chartered to do and that isn't really THAT far off of what they are doing.

My issue is that somewhere along the way ...Oh, within the first 10 years or so, if it took that long .....they realized ultimate secrecy tended to make law ultimately meaningless for them while under the cover of their "official" work. Crack that nut and they are doing the job every other major nation has the same type of agency to do ...

It seems a shame to run off whatever the NSA might actually contribute in a positive way though. They're going to get what they want on the other side of things, either way. In terms of benefit, it's said they are the largest concentration of mathematician types in the world though. Credit where credit is due, or respect for the adversary ..whichever it may be, IMO.

reply to post by Wrabbit2000


The unfortunate part is that they have gone way beyond their charter. Also as a side note, this type of agency is only needed when one has enemies. Controlling other countries politics, setting up puppet dictatorships, getting rid of legitimately elected heads of states in other countries, running drugs, economic espionage, just to name a few of the non-charter things the NSA has been up to.

It's called blow back. Sticking your nose where it doesn't belong creates enemies. So you create your own enemies then you need more spying to control the blowback.

Sorry, but with any spying agency, your only as "good" as you get.

I respectfully disagree with your observations.

If the NSA ONLY protected the US and I'm not saying economically, we wouldn't be in the position we are in today. To be fair the US is not the only country complicit in this, but seems to be the head of the octopus. remember the logo plastered on the latest spy satellite sent into space by the NSA? It was an octopus gripping the earth. Octopi have eight tentacles which I take to mean there are 8 major countries in on this. G8?

The charter is to protect the United States, not the corporate interests of those entities residing in the US.

If the USA wanted peace it would have stuck to it's charter and the US constitution.

reply to post by signalfire


This basically boils down to the whole architecture of the internet. Between controlling cryptography so the NSA has an easy back door to all encrypted connections (ex.They can spy on your internet banking without having to break the encryption because they have a backdoor decryption method which they themselves have instituted.) and how the whole internet works.

Also with this article they help to design the internet so they have easier access to grab any information they wish.

It is my belief this was instituted so they can run everything through the NSA Spy center running quantum computers. They store over 30 billion communications a day and have the ability to store that information in perpetuity.

Everything via internet and telecommunications is open to them, with out having to decrypt, or re-route anything because they have their fingers in the pie of everything which should be locked down to ANY prying eyes.