List I stumbled over this article, perusing Google for news. Apparently Al Qaida ops planner Khalid Shaikh Mohammed tried - in vain - to protect his information by encrypting it on his laptop. I haven't found any references as to what sort of encryption he used - or if it was just a weak password that was broken. If I recall correctly the computers that was bought and decrypted by a newspaper in Kabul, Afghanistan last year was protected by the Win2k EFS export version. Are there any records of Al Qaida using stronger encryption?
Hummm... On a sidenote: I'm researching for an article on the history of export regulations. I seem to remember that a couple of years ago there was an incident where some cypherpunks(?) 'exported' encryption to Mexico by missile, thereby exploiting a loophole in US export regulations. I have tried Google to no avail. Can anyone remember this - or is this just a twist of my imagination? Yours Bo Elkjaer, Denmark http://www.theolympian.com/home/news/20030313/frontpage/19456.shtml Computer holds list of al-Qaida safehouses GANNETT NEWS SERVICE KARACHI, Pakistan -- A laptop computer used by al-Qaida operational planner Khalid Shaikh Mohammed has yielded a list of at least half a dozen hiding places along the Pakistan-Afghan border used by Osama bin Laden and his supporters, U.S. and Pakistani intelligence officials said Wednesday. <SNIP> Much of the information on Mohammed's laptop computer was protected by an encryption code that was easily broken by CIA analysts, U.S. officials said. The analysts said the code was surprisingly simple. -- EOT
