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FBI makes monitoring email a top security priority

Encryption techniques have long been a mainstay of cybersecurity defensive measures. Recently, however, encryption has prevented a different kind of data breach: keeping the federal government from reading private emails.

Slate reported that the Federal Bureau of Investigation announced it would be making the ability to access all forms of online conversation a "top priority" in 2013. Under the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, the agency already has leeway obtaining archived copies of emails, but accessing in-transit conversations has continued to elude it.

One of the main factors that has contributed to preventing the federal government from accessing instant messaging and email communications in real time has been the use of encryption techniques by email clients. Certain email servers use SSL certificates to encrypt information that is being transferred between users. In order for FBI agents to access that data, they would need the email client to freely provide them with it.

FBI officials said that being able to obtain information encrypted in transit is essential to supporting their operations.

"In order to enforce the law and protect our citizens from threats to public safety, it is critically important that we have the ability to intercept electronic communications with court approval," FBI General Counsel Valerie Caproni said in a testimony before the House Judiciary Committee.

The problem, according to law enforcement officials, is that information encrypted by SSL certificates in email and instant messaging communications could provide agents with critical information. Not being able to access that information in real time, however, might significantly impede their investigations. In past instances, officials have been unable to prosecute suspected criminals such as drug traffickers and arms dealers because incriminating communications could not be accessed and used as evidence.

For those concerned about the privacy of their online communications, an SSL certificate is the best tool to securing that information.

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