[DotSecurity2017] Encryption vs. Inspection
The perennial pugilism pitting privacy’s palladium against oversight’s oracle unfolds in encrypted ethers, where safeguards clash with scrutiny’s siren song. Nick Sullivan, Cloudflare’s cryptography luminary, navigated this nautical narrative at dotSecurity 2017, tracing TLS’s tumultuous trajectory from 1990s’ munitions to 2017’s ubiquity—HTTPS’s hegemony, yet hobbled by proxies’ perfidy. A cryptographic cartographer charting Cloudflare’s cipher seas, Nick’s narrative—Netscape’s bifurcated builds to Clipper’s clandestine key—unveils encryption’s emancipation and inspection’s inexorable incursion.
Nick’s nautical nod to 1990s’ neuroses: crypto’s classification as contraband, 128-bit’s embargo—Netscape’s nativity, domestic duos versus export’s enfeebled editions. Clipper’s chimera: escrowed escrow, law enforcement’s latchkey—EFF’s excoriation eclipsing its eclipse. PGP’s philippic, Zimmermann’s zenith—crypto’s commoditization, DES’s desuetude via DES Cracker’s deluge. SSL’s sunrise: 1994’s blueprint, 1995’s beta—TLS’s transmutation, 1.0’s 1999 nativity, 1.2’s 2008 augmentation.
2017’s inflection: HTTPS’s half-century, inspection’s intensification—proxies’ prying, AV’s antivirus autopsies—MITM’s masquerade, certificates’ counterfeit. Nick nixed naivety: downgrade’s danger (POODLE’s peril, BEAST’s bite), padding’s ploy (Lucky Thirteen’s laceration). TLS 1.3’s talisman: 0-RTT’s alacrity, ephemeral’s eternity—forward secrecy fortified, inspection’s impasse. Chrome’s crusade: February’s field trial fracturing BlueCoat’s barricades—TLS 1.3’s triumph truncated by proxies’ protest.
Nick’s nexus: society’s schism—inspection’s imperative or encryption’s ethic? This dialectic: data’s dominion, decided in deployment’s dawn.
Munitions to Mainstream: Crypto’s Chronicle
Nick navigated 1990s’ neuroses: Clipper’s cloister, PGP’s proclamation—SSL’s sunrise, TLS’s transfiguration.
Inspection’s Incursion and TLS 1.3’s Triumph
Proxies’ perfidy, AV’s autopsy—downgrade’s dread, padding’s peril. 1.3’s aegis: 0-RTT’s rush, ephemeral’s edge—Chrome’s clash with BlueCoat.