Phil Zimmermann on Backdoor Threats to Strong Encryption Security

Strong cryptography does more good for society than harm and placing backdoors in encryption products to allow law enforcement access to plain text messages would be "worse than futile", encryption guru Phil Zimmermann told The Register today. Zimmermann, the creator . . . Strong cryptography does more good for society than harm and placing backdoors in encryption products to allow law enforcement access to plain text messages would be "worse than futile", encryption guru Phil Zimmermann told The Register today. Zimmermann, the creator of the popular email encryption package PGP, told us that reversing the policy of allowing strong cryptography "under the terrible emotional pressure" created by the September 11 atrocities would be a "mistake".

The possibility that terrorists might use potentially unbreakable encryption was considered when legislation on ecommerce was formulated in the 1990s, and it recognised that the need to protect ecommerce came before law enforcement concerns. Encryption products with backdoor access are inherently less secure. "I'm not insensitive to the downside of the technology" said Zimmermann. "But if you impose controls on encryption, the bad guys won't use products featuring backdoor cryptographic access."