Amy Hess, the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s executive assistant director of science and technology, told lawmakers that the FBI wants to see a regulatory and legislative fix to the problem of unbreakable encryption that locks out law enforcement officials, even when they have a warrant.
Last year, FBI Director James Comey said strong encryption hinders the efforts of law enforcement officials and puts lives at risk.
But cybersecurity experts yesterday told lawmakers that building backdoors accessible to law enforcement would inevitably be accessible to hackers.
University of Pennsylvania computer scientist Matt Blaze told subcommittee members that it “can’t be done safely.”
“We just can’t do what the FBI is asking without seriously weakening our infrastructure,” he said. “The ultimate beneficiaries will be criminals and rival nation states.”
Some lawmakers said the backdoors would pose an undue privacy risk.
“I for one am not willing to give up every bit of privacy in the name of security,” said House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah).
The February poll showed that 25 percent of voters would support mandating access points, even if it reduces personal privacy. Fifty-nine percent said they would oppose forcing companies to implement such access points on privacy grounds.