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Security “expert” misses the point

When terrorist groups learned that the National Security Agency could track electronic communication only when it was in transit—not when it was sitting in an inbox—users started drafting messages in free e-mail accounts, then allowing others to log in to the accounts and read the drafts. No message ever had to be sent.

This is a statement by a Bruce Hoffman, who works for Rand that is quoted in a Washington Post article. The problem is that the packets that users typed to start drafting an email are on the network as well: it’s always in transit. They’re not hard to find, and not that hard to re-assemble, so storing them in a “draft” isn’t useful. It might be useful if you shared a physical machine, but then you have a whole ‘nother channel of communication.

The only secure communication is no communication. Everything else is monitorable, tappable and interceptable. The question is “how hard,” not “if.” People who forget this are doomed.