[Reader-list] FBI Develops Eavesdropping Tools

[Harsh Kapoor]

Associated Press                               Wednesday November 21, 2001

FBI Develops Eavesdropping Tools

      By Ted Bridis, Associated Press Writer

Washington - The FBI is going to new lengths to eavesdrop, building software
to monitor computer use and urging phone companies to help make wiretaps
more reliable.

The FBI's "Magic Lantern" technology would allow investigators, via the
Internet, to secretly install powerful software that records every keystroke
on a person's computer, according to people familiar with the effort. The
software is similar to "Trojan horse" programs already used by some hackers
and corporate spies.

The FBI envisions using Magic Lantern, part of a broad FBI project called
"Cyber Knight," to record the secret key a person might use to encrypt
messages or computer files.

The bureau has been largely frustrated in efforts to break open such
messages by trying random combinations, and officials are increasingly
concerned about their inability to read encrypted messages in criminal or
terrorist investigations.

The FBI said in a statement Wednesday that it can not discuss details of its
technical surveillance efforts, though it noted that "encryption can pose
potentially insurmountable challenges to law enforcement when used in
conjunction with communication or plans for executing serious terrorist and
criminal acts."

The FBI added that its research is "always mindful of constitutional,
privacy and commercial equities," and that its use of new technology can be
challenged in court and in Congress.

The FBI's existing monitoring technology, called the "Key Logger System,"
has required investigators to sneak into a target's home or business and
attach the device to a computer.

Magic Lantern could be installed over the Internet by tricking a person into
opening an e-mail attachment or by exploiting the same weaknesses in popular
software that allow hackers to break into computers. It's unclear whether
Magic Lantern would transmit the keystrokes it records back to the FBI over
the Internet or store the information to be seized later in a raid.

The existence of Magic Lantern was first disclosed by MSNBC.

"If they are using this kind of program, it would be a highly effective way
to bypass any encryption problems," said James E. Gordon, who heads the
information technology practice for Pinkerton Consulting and Investigations
Inc. "Once they have the keys to the kingdom, they have complete access to
anything that individual is doing."

People familiar with the project, who spoke only on condition of anonymity,
said the package is being developed at the FBI's electronic tools
laboratory, the same outfit that built the bureau's "Carnivore" Internet
surveillance technology.

The former head of the lab, Donald M. Kerr, became head of the CIA's science
and technology unit in August.

Some experts said Magic Lantern raises important legal questions, such as
whether the FBI would need a wiretap order from a judge to use it. The
government has previously argued that the FBI can capture a person's
computer keystrokes under the authority of a traditional search warrant,
which involves less oversight by the courts.

"It's an open question whether the covert installation of something on a
computer without a physical entry requires a search warrant," said David
Sobel, a lawyer with the Washington-based Electronic Privacy Information
Center, a civil liberties group.

Earlier this month the FBI urged some of the nation's largest telephone
companies to change their networks so that investigators can reliably
eavesdrop on conversations using new data technology.

At a conference Nov. 6 in Tucson, Ariz. - and in a 32-page follow-up letter
sent about two weeks ago - the FBI told leading telecommunications officials
that increasing use of Internet-style data technology to transmit voice
calls is frustrating FBI wiretap efforts. Although Carnivore can be used to
capture electronic messages, it can't record voice messages sent over data
networks for a variety of technical reasons.

The bureau's access to voice calls using traditional technology is
guaranteed under the 1994 Communications Assistance to Law Enforcement Act,
but it exempted "information services." The FBI said Wednesday it is not
seeking to broaden the 1994 law to cover modern data technology; industry
officials say the changes being sought by the FBI could take years to make.

         The FBI told companies that it will need access to voice calls sent
over data networks "within a few hours" in some emergency situations, and
that any interference caused by a wiretap "should not be perceptible" to
avoid tipping off a person that his calls might be monitored.