Sometimes we come across stories where real life looks like spy fiction:
In the wake of strong U.S. government statements condemning WikiLeaks’ recent publishing of 77,000 Afghan War documents, the secret-spilling site has posted a mysterious encrypted file labeled “insurance.”
It's reminiscent of the old thriller dead man switch plot device, where one character lays a revengeful action in place in case of their defeat.
And it's a pretty big device:
The huge file, posted on the Afghan War page at the WikiLeaks site, is 1.4 GB and is encrypted with AES256. The file’s size dwarfs the size of all the other files on the page combined. The file has also been posted on a torrent download site as well...
Now the scheme suggests the cyberpunk distributed revenge plot, where multiple copies of something can be spread throughout a network.*
Cryptome, a separate secret-spilling site, has speculated that the file may have been posted as insurance in case something happens to the WikiLeaks website or to the organization’s founder, Julian Assange. In either scenario, WikiLeaks volunteers, under a prearranged agreement with Assange, could send out a password or passphrase to allow anyone who has downloaded the file to open it.It’s not known what the file contains...
Wonder if it includes the 15,000 Afghan files withheld, or the original raw files, or perhaps much more, pre-positioned for public release ("insurance") against an attack expected to come from DoD and Justice or parties unknown. A passphrase to be distributed or published widely in case of a takedown...
Got the insurance file open by changing the extension to .TXT, then loading in Firefox. No header. The first and only word is "Salted." The file might be junk, or the family jewels.
*That spreading revenge plot really owes a lot to the finale of The Stars My Destination (1956).
Here is the torrent:
http://torrents.thepiratebay.org/5723136/WikiLeaks_insurance.5723136.TPB.torrent
Posted by: Bob | August 01, 2010 at 11:47
Thank you, Bob. I can't use it myself, since my ISP is anti-torrent, but it's good to have out there in the Web.
Posted by: Bryan Alexander | August 02, 2010 at 10:52