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Survey: Countries with Government-Mandated Encryption Backdoors More Susceptible to Nation-State Attacks
[March 28, 2019]

Survey: Countries with Government-Mandated Encryption Backdoors More Susceptible to Nation-State Attacks


Venafi®, the leading provider of machine identity protection, today announced the results of a survey on government-mandated encryption backdoors that evaluated the opinions of 517 IT security professionals attending the RSA (News - Alert) Conference 2019. It showed that 73 percent of respondents believe countries with government-mandated encryption backdoors are more susceptible to nation-state attacks.

"This is a tense moment for industry professionals because they know backdoors make our critical infrastructure more vulnerable," said Kevin Bocek, vice president of security strategy and threat intelligence at Venafi. "This is not rocket science; backdoors inevitably create vulnerabilities that can be exploited by malicious actors. It's understandable that so many security professionals are concerned because backdoors are especially appealing to hostile and abusive government agencies and more governments are considering these mandates."

Additional findings from the survey include:

  • Sixty-nine percent believe countries with government-mandated encryption backdoors suffer economic disadvantages in the global marketplace as a result.
  • Seventy percent believe governments should not be able to force technology companies to grant access to encrypted user data.
  • Twenty-five percent believe technology companies are doing enough to protect consumers' personal information. /li>



Bocek added: "Last December, Australia's parliament passed legislation requiring tech businesses to create encryption backdoors within their products. We know that attackers don't abide by restrictions; they don't follow the rules or buy products in controlled markets. Countries that enact these near-sighted restrictions harm law abiding businesses and court economic damage as well as intrusions focused on sovereign government processes."

For more information:
https://www.venafi.com/blog/venafi-survey-negative-impact-government-mandated-encryption-backdoors


About Venafi

Venafi is the cybersecurity market leader in machine identity protection, securing machine-to-machine connections and communications. Venafi protects machine identity types by orchestrating cryptographic keys and digital certificates for SSL/TLS, IoT, mobile and SSH. Venafi provides global visibility of machine identities and the risks associated with them for the extended enterprise - on premises, mobile, virtual, cloud and IoT - at machine speed and scale. Venafi puts this intelligence into action with automated remediation that reduces the security and availability risks connected with weak or compromised machine identities while safeguarding the flow of information to trusted machines and preventing communication with machines that are not trusted.

With over 30 patents, Venafi delivers innovative solutions for the world's most demanding, security-conscious Global 5000 organizations and government agencies, including the top five U.S. health insurers; the top five U.S. airlines; four of the top five U.S., U.K., Australian and South African banks; and four of the top five U.S. retailers. Venafi is backed by top-tier investors, including TCV, Foundation Capital, Intel Capital, QuestMark Partners, Mercato Partners (News - Alert) and NextEquity.

For more information, visit: www.venafi.com.


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