Risk & Repeat: Strong encryption under fire again

The debate over strong encryption is raging once again, after government officials across the globe issued warnings about their inability to access encrypted communications.

FBI Director James Comey argued, once again, that strong encryption technology within popular messaging applications allows terrorists and other threat actors to communicate in total secrecy. Comey also argued the technology industry hasn't worked hard enough to find solutions to the problem of going dark, and insisted there are ways to grant law enforcement access to communications protected by end-to-end encryption.

While experts disagreed with Comey's claims, government officials in other countries have ramped up their rhetoric in the encryption debate. For example, European Union Commissioner for Justice, Consumers and Gender Equity, Věra Jourová, said she plans to introduce several options in June, including new legislation to give law enforcement agencies access to encrypted communications. In addition, U.K. Home Secretary Amber Rudd criticized end-to-end encryption used by WhatsApp and other messaging apps following the recent London terrorist attack, though Rudd later qualified her comments.

Is strong encryption in danger of being outlawed? Has the tech industry done enough research into alternative approaches? Can encryption key escrow systems actually work? In this week's episode of SearchSecurity's Risk & Repeat podcast, editors Rob Wright and Peter Loshin tackle those questions and more on the encryption debate.