Julian Assange, the WikiLeaks founder, has circulated across the internet an encrypted “poison pill” cache of uncensored documents suspected to include files on BP and Guantanamo Bay.
One of the files identified this weekend by The Sunday Times — called the “insurance” file — has been downloaded from the WikiLeaks website by tens of thousands of supporters, from America to Australia.
Assange warns that any government that tries to curtail his activities risks triggering a new deluge of state and commercial secrets.
The military papers on Guantanamo Bay, yet to be published, have been supplied by Bradley Manning, Assange’s primary source until his arrest in May. Other documents that Assange is confirmed to possess include an aerial video of a U.S. airstrike in Afghanistan that killed civilians, BP files and Bank of America documents.
One of the key files available for download — named insurance.aes256 — appears to be encrypted with a 256-digit key. Experts said last week it was virtually unbreakable.
The U.S. Department of Defense says it is aware of the WikiLeaks insurance file, but has been unable to establish its contents. It has been available for download since July.
Assange has warned he can divulge the classified documents in the insurance file and similar backups if he is detained or the WikiLeaks website is permanently removed from the internet. He has suggested the contents are unredacted, posing a possible security risk for coalition partners around the world.
Assange warned: “We have over a long period of time distributed encrypted backups of material we have yet to release. All we have to do is release the password to that material, and it is instantly available.”
The “doomsday files” are part of a contingency plan drawn up by Assange and his supporters as they face a legal threat. He is wanted in Sweden over sexual assault allegations, and the US administration is reviewing the possibility of legal action after the release of 250,000 diplomatic cables.
Ben Laurie, a London-based computer security expert who has advised WikiLeaks, said: “Julian’s a smart guy and this is an interesting tactic. He will hope it deters anyone from acting against him.”
Nigel Smart, professor of cryptology at the U.K.’s Bristol University, said even powerful military computers would be unable to crack the encryption. He said: “This isn’t something that can be broken with a modern computer. You need the key to open it.”
The file is 1.4 gigabytes in size, which would be big enough for a compressed version of all the files released this year and additional data.
Assange said last year that he had been leaked a computer hard drive from an executive at Bank of America and warned this month he was planning a major release on a large American bank. He also claims to have confidential files on BP and other energy companies. Tens of millions of personal computers were hijacked last week in an act of sabotage that crippled the WikiLeaks website. WikiLeaks revealed that a “denial of service” attack that temporarily shut down the website used a network of “zombie” computers, which were infiltrated by the hackers.
WikiLeaks is now battling for its survival. Amazon, which hosted the website, refused further access to its servers last week. A site that provided WikiLeaks with its domain name, EveryDNS.net, also cut off its service because it said it was being inundated with sabotage attacks.
Some of the contingency plans were revealed when the site re-emerged on Friday with a Swiss address, WikiLeaks.ch. The new name was provided by the Swiss Pirate party, which champions internet freedom. Assange has also set up contingency servers in Sweden.
(Source: Fox News)
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14 Responses
We should assume that he will release the password. He should have a din of rodef.
This latest threat further proves that head of wikileaks is a terrorist and the site is his weaopon of terror. There is nothing altruistic about it.
He should be hunted and be put down like any terrorist threatining further terror.
charliehall, absolutely. So are you ready to give him the rodef treatment?
why is he a rodef, it seem the opposite, he is a nerdof and we have a din to help him. besides what he released every one knows, it just is not documented…
The man is definitley an egotistic, evil, attention seeking liberal. He claims he released the info in order to combat civil rights abuses. If thats true, why did he devulge thousands of other documents with sensitive info that has nothing to do with human rights?! Like the one that lists all important aspects of american infrastructure. He should be killed as a lesson to all future brazen liberal journalists that theres a price to pay for crossing every line
Perhaps he’ll threaten to hold his breath until he turns blue?
So far all he has done is release information that any fool could have figured out, but that anyone “inside the beltway” (and its overseas equivalents) would be too polite to say in public. Did you really believe that the Arab-Israeli conflict was only about borders in the West Bank? Did you really believe Pakistan was enthusiastically fighting the Taliban? So of the military stuff in the first batch is enough to charge him with aiding the enemy, but the political stuff has been largely meaningless. He dreams of being in a class with the “Pentagon papers” (which seriously undermined the government’s policies by contradicting their public statements), but he isn’t close.
SO I say let him hold his breath until he turns blue, and send him to his room without dinner. That’s what we normally due to spoiled children.
does anyone thing that it could be good for israel if the world sees that even a country like the USA finds it impossible to conduct warr against terror without causing some civilian collatiral damage ?
Vchol Maasechoh Basefer Nichtovim – is the mussar we all have to learn from this. And he isnt a Rodef – he has done nothing wrong
This guy is a terrorist & the US should make him eat lead then dirt!
“The man is definitley an egotistic, evil, attention seeking liberal. ”
He’s no liberal; he is trying to destroy all liberal institutions all over the world.
He appears to be an anarchist. A lot of his “leaks” appear to lend support to both zionist and neo-con positions, which suggests he isn’t politically motivated. He seems rather egotistical (thus my earlier suggest that maybe we should just let threaten to hold his breath until he turns blue, or perhaps make him stand in a corner).
“So far all he has done is release information that any fool could have figured out, but that anyone “inside the beltway” (and its overseas equivalents) would be too polite to say in public. Did you really believe that the Arab-Israeli conflict was only about borders in the West Bank? Did you really believe Pakistan was enthusiastically fighting the Taliban? So of the military stuff in the first batch is enough to charge him with aiding the enemy, but the political stuff has been largely meaningless. He dreams of being in a class with the “Pentagon papers” (which seriously undermined the government’s policies by contradicting their public statements), but he isn’t close.”
I did not know the names of the Afghan civilians that are helping the Americans which Assange revealed to the Taliban. I did not know the names and locations of installations vital to national security which this despicable criminal released. Get your facts straight.
I hope this rat is not arrested for his alleged crimes because that will keep him safe from the likes of Russia and China who I am sure are out to kill him at this point.
I had a thought….the Wikileaks guy is embarrassing the US and exposing our thoughts about our “allies” … with this in mind what is the difference in the terrorism and damage this man has done versus the damage and embarrassment, exposure to our enemies and allies that TALK RADIO does….What is the difference between Wikileaks and Rush Limbaugh or Sean Hannity? Look at the similarities and the the subtile differences. Hannity, Limbaugh and this Assange man are the same they are embarassing the US Govt with the plan to bring it down! We, as a country need to realize this and circle the wagons and believe in ourselves again~
#13 you could make the same argument with ppl like Oblerman when we have a GOP president. Limbaugh and Hannity who I do not particularly like (although I appreciate their support of Israel) fight Obama’s policies. Assange it seems is a sadist bent on killing people. Big difference that is too obvious to spend more time explaining.