The Mystery Of TrueCrypt's Disappearance

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The internet is abuzz after this cryptic message appeared on the (redirected) TrueCrypt.org website. No big deal or time to panic?

Sometime on the 28th of May, 2014, the anonymous developers of TrueCrypt mysteriously pulled the plug on their popular encryption software. They shut down the TrueCrypt.org website and redirected visitors to a simple page hosted by SourceForge, with a disturbing warning: WARNING: Using TrueCrypt is not secure as it may contain unfixed security issues.
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I had just read that the developer finally got "bored" of the project. Doesn't sound right to me, considering how famous the software is.
 
some spooks probably paid them a visit telling them their software was a threat to national security or something.
 
Also being discussed over in another thread. Although obviously without much more detail - very little seems known by anyone.

The whole thing is - to say the least - weird.

I subscribe to the theory that an NSL is involved - it feels a bit like the Lavabit implosion, to me.
 
JahgpCn.jpg

CHnLG0W.jpg
 
If the Bitlocker recommendation isn't a dead giveaway, I don't know what else could be.

Letter from the NSA, comply or shut down.
 
It's no secret that the NSA has paid people that develop these types of software to put back doors in or suggest that they introduce / disclose security flaws.

There are a few German based security measures with English support that might be safe
 
Encryption Software comes in a couple of flavors, essentially you got the soft stuff, then you have what is sometimes called "Military Grade" encryption. The serious stuff is controlled by US Technology Export Laws and if someone put a product like that up on the internet for sale or otherwise with no controls of who could download it, they would get into hot water very fast and the water would be very deep.

http://www.bis.doc.gov/index.php/policy-guidance/encryption/encryption-faqs

Also, it could always be that Truecrypt was an NSA Honeypot from the very beginning and that could account for the anonymous nature of it's developers.

You never know and may never find out.
 
By lollerwaffle ;
If the Bitlocker recommendation isn't a dead giveaway, I don't know what else could be.

Letter from the NSA, comply or shut down.
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Not sure what you mean, but the Army systems I work from all have Bitlocker on them.
 
So how can I crack my 100GB volume that I lost the password to?
 
There are mostly 2 kinds of people who use crypting:

1) The people who really do not need it but are paranoid
2) Criminals

Only some folks in communist dictatorships etc. really need encryption. Any law abiding citizen does not. I reckon Tor, crypt etc. are very popular with kiddie molesters etc. nice people.
 
B00nie said:
There are mostly 2 kinds of people who use crypting:

1) The people who really do not need it but are paranoid
2) Criminals

Only some folks in communist dictatorships etc. really need encryption. Any law abiding citizen does not. I reckon Tor, crypt etc. are very popular with kiddie molesters etc. nice people.
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Ah...Bitcoin users...Ron Paul supporters...terrorists, really.
 
B00nie said:
There are mostly 2 kinds of people who use crypting:

1) The people who really do not need it but are paranoid
2) Criminals

Only some folks in communist dictatorships etc. really need encryption. Any law abiding citizen does not. I reckon Tor, crypt etc. are very popular with kiddie molesters etc. nice people.
Click to expand...

Creepy, is that you?
 
lcpiper said:
Encryption Software comes in a couple of flavors, essentially you got the soft stuff, then you have what is sometimes called "Military Grade" encryption. The serious stuff is controlled by US Technology Export Laws and if someone put a product like that up on the internet for sale or otherwise with no controls of who could download it, they would get into hot water very fast and the water would be very deep.

http://www.bis.doc.gov/index.php/policy-guidance/encryption/encryption-faqs

Also, it could always be that Truecrypt was an NSA Honeypot from the very beginning and that could account for the anonymous nature of it's developers.

You never know and may never find out.
Click to expand...

Enjoy our tax dollars, sir.
 
By Aardvark;
Enjoy our tax dollars, sir.
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I bet I pay the same or more in taxes then you and I sure as hell can't afford a tax lawyer to get my loophole on. Don't cry to me about paying taxes or how they're spent.

Instead get educated, start here. At least you'll have a better idea where some of your money is going, and more importantly you'll get a better grasp of just what a million, hell even a billion dollars really amounts to.

http://www.defense.gov/contracts/
 
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lcpiper said:
I bet I pay the same or more in taxes then you and I sure as hell can't afford a tax lawyer to get my loophole on. Don't cry to me about paying taxes or how they're spent.

Instead get educated, start here. At least you'll have a better idea where some of your money is going, and more importantly you'll get a better grasp of just what a million, hell even a billion dollars really amounts to.

http://www.defense.gov/contracts/
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Yeah, tax dollars going to great places like the VA.
 
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lcpiper said:
I bet I pay the same or more in taxes then you and I sure as hell can't afford a tax lawyer to get my loophole on. Don't cry to me about paying taxes or how they're spent.

Instead get educated, start here. At least you'll have a better idea where some of your money is going, and more importantly you'll get a better grasp of just what a million, hell even a billion dollars really amounts to.

http://www.defense.gov/contracts/
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You're welcome.

Grossed six figures last year. I don't have a tax lawyer either.
I do everything out in the open. Sorry to disappoint.
 
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Yeah, tax dollars going to great places like the VA.
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Actually the VA is not funded from out of the DoD's budget, the VA is a seperate department that has it's own budget that must be approved by Congress. And the VA is a great place for tax dollars to go, you should try it yourself Stiletto.
 
By Aardvark;
You're welcome.

Grossed six figures last year. I don't have a tax lawyer either.
I do everything out in the open. Sorry to disappoint.
Click to expand...

I mean, you did have a point right?

By Aardvark;
Enjoy our tax dollars, sir.
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You were suggesting that somehow I benefit for your money as if I don't pay anything as well right?

I'll lay it straight out there for you. I just work for a company, the company has a contract with the Army. I didn't set it up, I didn't decide anything, I am just another IT guy earning a check working for a company who is mostly concerned with keeping their customer happy so they can keep the contract another year. We are as productive as our customer allows so how effectively OUR tax dollars are spent doesn't really sit on my shoulders. Just like the COR overseeing USIS and that company's fraudulent work, other contracted work either does justice to the tax moneys spent or doesn't by how well it is set up and managed by the government people who oversee their work.

And my six figures match your six figures but more importantly it suggests we pay on the same tax table at the same rate which means you don't have a fucking thing to bitch to me about so kiss my ass.
 
lcpiper said:
Actually the VA is not funded from out of the DoD's budget, the VA is a seperate department that has it's own budget that must be approved by Congress.
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And then Congress will pay for it with...come on, now...you can do it...

And the VA is a great place for tax dollars to go,
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Sure.

you should try it yourself Stiletto.
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What? Paying taxes? Done so every year since I was 12, bud. You might want to chill out with the personal attacks. Oh, right. You support this government.
 
B00nie said:
There are mostly 2 kinds of people who use crypting:

1) The people who really do not need it but are paranoid
2) Criminals

Only some folks in communist dictatorships etc. really need encryption. Any law abiding citizen does not. I reckon Tor, crypt etc. are very popular with kiddie molesters etc. nice people.
Click to expand...

Exactly, if you aren't doing anything wrong you shouldn't care about the government looking through and copying your personal stuff anytime they want to, following you, and tracking your every movement. Only terrorists would really worry about this sort of thing. Anyone using TC should be rounded up and sent to Cuba. :rolleyes:
 
B00nie said:
There are mostly 2 kinds of people who use crypting:

1) The people who really do not need it but are paranoid
2) Criminals

Only some folks in communist dictatorships etc. really need encryption. Any law abiding citizen does not. I reckon Tor, crypt etc. are very popular with kiddie molesters etc. nice people.
Click to expand...

You're absolutely right. You should be subject to daily *snap rubber glove* strip searches, since you have nothing to hide.
 
I use truecrypt for containers. I've been using the old 7.0a.

I am not a big time criminal. I just need to keep my shit out of average Joe's hands in case I lose a thumb drive.

Now, how insecure is bitlocker? I am not trusting of microsoft
 
The phase I audit report of TC uncovered vulnerabilities and some sloppy coding practices but no evidence of the kinds of backdoors.
Phase II of the audit is still on schedule.

The cryptic shutdown of TC seems like the NSA made the developers an offer they couldn't refuse, similar to lavabit.

For all those that have nothing to hide, please make copies of all your house keys and escrow them so government security can make sure you are safe.
 
What? Paying taxes?
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No, becoming a VA Beneficiary.

The VA health care system has grown from 54 hospitals in 1930 to include 171 medical centers; more than 700 outpatient, community, and outreach clinics; 126 nursing home care units; and 35 domiciliaries.
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Despite the news and the crappy shit that has happened to some of the veterans in Phoenix and other places, despite the problems they are having, the VA has done a lot of great stuff for people who had no where else to go. The problems are still problems and do still need to be fixed, but that doesn't take away from the good the organization has done. I've never needed them, I still pay and use Tricare as a retiree, but they took good care of my Uncle and he was a physical basket case with real problems with alcohol, cigarettes, and the heart problems that come with those two that killed him. Still, he would have died much sooner without their good care.

But the VA has seen a huge surge in "customers" since the beginning of these last wars and one of the biggest reasons has to do with the Army's policies on retention and recruitment. These policies were in place long before the wars started and I saw while I was still in and I thought it was stupid then and I know it was stupid now.

They would give all sorts of money and benefits to the new guy, and give him no good reason to stay in after that first tour. It created a revolving door of new recruits and an endless supply of veterans and the pressure on the VA and the rest of the benefits afforded to veterans is a huge pressure on our economy.

Instead of offering great stuff to soldiers if they stay in after their first enlistment in order to create a demand for the jobs and competition to earn a place for the long term, they give these kids everything up front and no reason to stay.

It's something this simple that's killing us economically, has congress looking for ways to cut contractually promised benefits, to shave money and cheat all over the place and create problems like this shit with the VA. If you understand this one aspect then it becomes clear that the pressures put on a bureaucracy laden VA is the root cause and that reason that bureaucracy has grown so large and uncaring is because it's faced with a reality that can't last, a hopeless situation created by bad policies that it never had a hand in setting or managing.

Now that's the real reason for the problems but I can't tell you why the Army maintained these policies without regard for obvious future impacts, I can't.
 
B00nie said:
There are mostly 2 kinds of people who use crypting:

1) The people who really do not need it but are paranoid
2) Criminals

Only some folks in communist dictatorships etc. really need encryption. Any law abiding citizen does not. I reckon Tor, crypt etc. are very popular with kiddie molesters etc. nice people.
Click to expand...

Would you feel safe if your online passwords were stored unencrypted?

So, if [H] stores our passwords encrypted, Kyle Bennet is:
1) Paranoid.
2) Criminal.

Tell me which one.

The truth of the matter is, there are people out there that don't abide by rules. Duh, right? Encryption is protection against people just like that. Paranoia only hits if you take things to absolute extremes where common sense and logic no longer flow.
 
lcpiper said:
I mean, you did have a point right?



You were suggesting that somehow I benefit for your money as if I don't pay anything as well right?

Point:

(your statement)
"Encryption Software comes in a couple of flavors, essentially you got the soft stuff, then you have what is sometimes called "Military Grade" encryption. The serious stuff is controlled by US Technology Export Laws and if someone put a product like that up on the internet for sale or otherwise with no controls of who could download it, they would get into hot water very fast and the water would be very deep. "

My point is that the people who service the interest on the debt allow government departments to concoct items that the citizens are not privy to. That the privacy we pay to create is off limits to us.



I'll lay it straight out there for you. I just work for a company, the company has a contract with the Army. I didn't set it up, I didn't decide anything, I am just another IT guy earning a check working for a company who is mostly concerned with keeping their customer happy so they can keep the contract another year. We are as productive as our customer allows so how effectively OUR tax dollars are spent doesn't really sit on my shoulders. Just like the COR overseeing USIS and that company's fraudulent work, other contracted work either does justice to the tax moneys spent or doesn't by how well it is set up and managed by the government people who oversee their work.

And my six figures match your six figures but more importantly it suggests we pay on the same tax table at the same rate which means you don't have a fucking thing to bitch to me about so kiss my ass.

Your company siphons off some money from the government. Mine does not.
Pretty simple.

I never accused you of tax fraud (a courtesy you did not afford to me)
I simply told you to enjoy the fruits of my labor.
Click to expand...

Green

Looks like I struck a nerve. :)
 
By Stiletto;
Oh, right. You support this government.
Click to expand...

No I don't, I've told you in direct PMs I don't so why try and say otherwise?

If you want to misinterpret and make rash assumptions about my motives I can't stop you. But your wrong when you say I support this government in the manner you do.

You have a simplistic and frankly ignorant idea that it's all one big universally homogenous organization. It's the Government, and it's all there under one big happy umbrella and just because there is a president and a staff and a cabinet with appointees and delegates that the people in charge are really in charge. Shit, that's a child's view you should have long since realized isn't correct. The government is way too big and the bureaucracy is way too entrenched for that. Oh sure, the President and his administration and Congress all decide the DoD needs to tighten it's belt and cut the budget really good. But right now McCain(R) and Barber(D) are smiling and touring trying to get support because the DoD is cutting money big time in Arizona and neither of them are going to survive if their military constituents blame them for the losses. But they were all for it until it was their bases budgets making up the losses. It's perfectly fine for the good Senators to cut funds but when the DoD decides those funds are coming from their regions then what can they do except make noise and cry. They have no control below, once you get down under the crust all those agencies and departments are worlds that see the coming and going of Presidents and administrations as whether effects outside the walls and windows of their sturdy buildings. It doesn't really touch them.

This is the kind of government people get when they ask the government to take control of things, to manage and regulate. It's what happens when you give them control and say things like "We should make a law that ..."

There really are only three fixes for this situation. Either it collapses of it's own weight, a possibility, it's gotten pretty fat. There is a big ol' revolution and it's off with their heads and then we all pray like hell that some sane fuckers actually get control and put something decent in place again. Or, the States start reasserting their sovereignty and try to put the genie back in the fucking bottle so that the government we feel the most is the one that's closer to our front door and is a whole lot smaller and more attuned to our wishes to be left alone to live our lives.
 
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