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Encryption is under attack  but it's "vital for law enforcement," said former
US investigator

Date:
Fri, 31 Oct 2025 14:01:27 +0000

Description:
During a discussion at an event for Global Encryption Day 2025, a former
investigator joined technologists and activists in the call to protect
encryption.

FULL STORY

Encryption has never been so crucial for our online security as it is right
now, yet so at risk  and even some cops are worried. 

This is the technology that the best VPN and messaging apps use to scramble
people's communications into an unreadable form to prevent unauthorized
access. Yet, encryption is increasingly the target of lawmakers who are
looking for ways to guarantee a way for authorities to access encrypted data. 

The problem is that, experts have long warned, there's no way to create such 
a backdoor to encryption without inevitably undermining its level of
protection. A crucial safety net, especially nowadays, as cyberattacks are
getting increasingly more frequent and destructive. 

It didn't, then, come as a total surprise that "A Shield in Uncertain Times:
The Role of Encryption" was the theme of this year's commemoration for Global
Encryption Day , which falls on October 21. 

What was certainly more staggering was witnessing a former investigator join
technologists and activists in the call to protect encryption. 

Talking during an online discussion, James A. Baker, Former General Counsel 
of the US Federal Bureau of Investigation, said: "Encryption helps keep 
people safe. Encryption is vital to law enforcement to protect society."

Client-side scanning? "A fundamentally bad idea"

"Going dark" is the term that law enforcement uses to describe the inability
to access digital communications due to strong encryption. An obstacle that,
they say, makes it difficult to conduct investigations. 

This debate, and the so-called "crypto-wars" that come with it, are nothing
new. Yet, the novelty lies in how lawmakers have been trying to find a
solution to end it, what's known as client-side scanning. 

EU lawmakers are especially infamous for pushing this idea in what's been
nicknamed the Chat Control proposal. 

Here, Europeans' private chats could soon be scanned directly on the device 
in the lookout for child sexual abuse material (CSAM) before getting
encrypted. According to Signal, this is exactly how malware works . 

This is also the reason why the US halted the Online Safety Act's provision 
on encryption backdoors since " it's technically feasible to do so. " 

Baker also believes that client-side scanning is just "a fundamentally bad
idea." 

He said: "It won't help law enforcement to protect the people they want to
protect, but it will expose them to more threats." 

That's because, as technologists have said time and time again, it's not
technically possible to build a backdoor that only law enforcement can
exploit. This means that such a system would also create an entry point for
cybercriminals and adversary governments into our private communications. 

Baker, however, recognizes that law enforcement and lawmakers are under a lot
of pressure to find a solution that can help investigators halt hideous
crimes, like terrorism or child abuse, while maintaining online security for
everyone. 

Yet, he believes that focusing on encryption is not the right path. 

He said: "Encryption is one of the tools we have to protect citizens and
organizations. If we, as law enforcement, think we need to protect society, 
we need to factor that in and find a different way [to combat crimes]."

======================================================================
Link to news story:
https://www.techradar.com/vpn/vpn-privacy-security/encryption-is-under-attack-
but-its-vital-for-law-enforcement-said-former-us-investigator

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