Is It Time to Call an IT Expert?

I need to call an IT expert. A friend of mine was recently involved in a car accident, and now he isn't able to use his computer. His laptop is ruined, and he needs someone who can figure out what the problem is with it, so I offered to get him a new one. One of the things that will make it difficult for me if he doesn't have access to his computer though is that app for the phone called Signal where people can send encrypted messages. Without this app, my friend won't be able to message me on that secure platform without having a warrant issued and served on him by law enforcement officials. I know there are a lot of people who use this app for that same reason, and I was wondering if you know if law enforcement has been successful in forcing them to hand over the information to decrypt messages that have been encrypted.

The FBI has already won a court case against Apple where they ordered them to decrypt the contents of an iPhone belonging to one of the terrorists involved in those attacks that happened in San Bernardino. The FBI even went as far as to threaten Apple with contempt charges and fines if they didn't comply with the order, but the company still said that they wouldn't be able to help because they didn't have access to the encryption key. Since then, there has been a number of cases where law enforcement has requested information from companies who offer encrypted services, but so far no one has been asked for their encryption key.

It's not enough for law enforcement officials to simply ask for the information though. There are certain rules that govern when it's okay for companies to share this kind of information with authorities, and one of them requires that it will be used only in a criminal investigation and not for any other purpose. Companies are also required to notify the authorities when they have information that can help law enforcement officials though, and that is why a lot of companies are beginning to offer end-to-end encryption. This means that even they can't decrypt the messages, so it's very unlikely that anyone will be asked for their encryption key in the future. We should all know by now how dangerous terrorist threats can be though, so I don't think this will stop law enforcement officials from asking for our messages to be decrypted even though it might be against the law.

I haven't actually used Signal myself, but I've heard a lot of good things about it. My friend says that he likes it because he knows that law enforcement officials can't access his messages, and there have been a lot of people who have made that same claim on the Internet. I'm sure law enforcement officials are aware of this app now though, but I don't think they can get it to work no matter how hard they try. I guess we'll just have to wait and see what happens in the future.

I don't think you need to worry about getting a new computer right now. Most people don't worry about this as much as they should because they know that the technology is safe and that only the government can decrypt their data. You can't really trust your data to companies like Microsoft or Apple either though because they can't be trusted to hand over the information. I'm sure all of your data is encrypted, so it should be okay. Even encryption services that you order through Amazon or other online services are usually not worth using, and you should protect yourself against them by encrypting your data yourself. You can use one of the many free programs available including TrueCrypt and CipherShed , but I know that you have a lot of experience with computers, so I'm sure that you can handle this yourself just as well.

You should also know that the last thing you want to do is to give a company like Microsoft access to your data, so you should encrypt your data before you store it on a disk or a memory stick. You can use TrueCrypt for this purpose, and there are other options as well. You can even create an encrypted flash drive using one of the encryption programs listed here . This will allow you to store data securely on your computer without anyone being able to access it without using special equipment. I think it's best if you do everything possible to protect your information because if someone does manage to get your data, they'll be very happy with whatever they get out of it.

This is a difficult question to answer because no one has ever been told that their data can't be decrypted, but I don't think this will happen anytime soon. Even though the FBI was able to get Apple to decrypt information in that one case, it's not a good idea for law enforcement officials to hold companies like Apple or Google or Amazon responsible for decrypting people's data. People need to realize that they are responsible for making sure that their data is protected, and they should never trust a company with their data unless they know it is safe. You can never be too careful when it comes to something like this, so you should always make sure your data and your apps are up-to-date.

Even when you are careful, you still need to realize that there is a chance that law enforcement officials will be able to get your data by going through the phone carriers. Most countries have laws on the books now where they can get your data from the phone carriers even without a warrant, so this means that they don't have to work as hard as they used to if they want this kind of information. We've already seen how important encrypted messages can be in preventing terrorist attacks and keeping people safe, so I don't think it's fair for law enforcement officials to hold companies responsible for decrypting them. So far, neither Apple or Google have caved in to requests from law enforcement officials to decrypt the data of their users, and I doubt they will do so anytime soon.

I think the best thing you can do right now is to simply put all of your faith in TrueCrypt. This program is one of the most popular encryption programs available today, and it's very effective at protecting your data against a number of different threats. The best thing about it is that you can use it to encrypt both files and entire drives, so there's really no reason why you shouldn't be using it. You just have to make sure that you're using the most recent version before you install it on your computer.

Conclusion

I hope that you never have to deal with this kind of situation, but it's good to know what your options are if you ever run into a law enforcement official trying to collect the encryption keys of your devices. If you want to protect against this kind of thing, the first thing that you should do is make sure that your data is encrypted. This shouldn't be difficult because there are a lot of free tools available on the Internet. You can also use these programs to encrypt your drives, so it's really worth using them if you're worried about someone accessing your data.