The Basics of
Data Security:
Governments
Fabian M. Suchanek
based on “
A practical guide to Internet security
”
45
Overview
2
•
Motivation
•
Government surveillance
•
Protection
Protecting against the government?
3
Why would you want to protect yourself against the government?
• if you are a political activist in a less democratic country
• if you want to engage in an ethically permitted activity
that is illegal in your country
• if you want to guard against social scoring (in China, your
social media interactions determine your rights.)
In the United Arab Emirates, showing sympathy to Qatar
(also on social media) is
punishable
by up to 15 years in prison.
Def: Social Scoring
4
Social Scoring
is the computation of a behavior‐dependent score for each
citizen, which is used to curtail or grant rights. China’s “Social Credit
System” has been rolled out in several regions.
Behaviors that negatively impact the score are (depending on region):
- playing loud music or eating in rapid transits
- jaywalking and red-light violations
- making no‐show reservations at restaurants or hotels
- failing to correctly sort personal waste
- using other people’s public transportation ID cards
Punishments: travel bans (26m air tickets denied so far), exclusion
from school admissions, public shaming, lower internet speed, etc.
“The tentacles of social credit management have extended to all
aspects of residents' lives. ” [
ChinaNews
]
Wikipedia: Social Credit System
OK, but in the West?
5
• if you are aspiring to have a political career
Remember how many people had their political career destroyed by data leakage.
OK, but in the West?
6
• if you are aspiring to have a political career
• if you are generally averse to the government knowing everything.
How can you control the government if the government knows with
whom you spend your night?
OK, but in the West?
7
Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: Government Surveillance
If I had knowledge
that the US government
had a picture of my
d*ck, I would be very
p*ssed.
• if you are aspiring to have a political career
• if you are generally averse to the government knowing everything.
How can you control the government if the government knows with
whom you spend your night?
8
Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: Government Surveillance
Yes. [...]
Anytime you have your
picture on gmail [...],
your junk ends up
in the[ir] database.
Can they see my d*ck?
OK, but in the West?
• if you are aspiring to have a political career
• if you are generally averse to the government knowing everything.
9
Finding the Balance
It is difficult to strike the right balance
• politically: between privacy and security
• individually: between privacy and ease of use
Just make sure that it’s you who decides,
and that it stays this way.
“I totally guarantee freedom of speech.
I just don’t guarantee freedom after speech.”
(fictional quote)
Using government-style protection
10
You may also want to use this type of protection for
• personal problems you want to keep secret
• business secrets that the competition may not know
• communication with whistle-blowers
• traits that are despised by society (e.g, being atheist in Bangladesh)
• activism against powerful or violent people
• sharing data that can be abused: credit card numbers,
scans of your personal id card, etc.
...or if the law requires you to encrypt your data:
• lawyers, notaries, tax consultants
• doctors, pharmacists
• owners of critical infrastructure
Overview
11
•
Motivation
•
Government surveillance
•
Protection
National Security Letters
12
The NSA
can request
that a service provider turns over
client data without telling the client about it.
NSL to Google