Manhattan US Attorney Preet Bharara warned at an NYU event Friday that there are “people who want to kill everyone in this room,” as he, for the first time, jumped in the national debate over encrypted messaging that he says benefits terrorists.
“In addition to all these people who for legitimate privacy reasons that all in good faith want to keep their messaging private … There are also people who want to bring buildings down. There are people who want to destroy America. And they will take advantage of these mechanisms for communication,” the crusading US attorney said.
Bharara also echoed FBI Director James Comey’s comments on the hot-button issue, saying that the feds have no way to gain access to these potentially deadly coded messages as companies led by Apple dig in their heels.
“You have no ability of law enforcement and intelligence agencies to get at communications because they’re encrypted end to end, even if there is a strong showing of probable cause” to a federal judge, Bharara said.
Bharara and his top deputy, Joon Kim, hosted the “Cyber Threat” conference at NYU’s Vanderbilt Hall with Bharara moderating the first debate panel, consisting of Mastercard CEO Ajay Banga, former Verizon exec Randal Milch and former California federal prosecutor Stephanie Yonekura.
During his opening remarks, Bharara touched on the high-profile hacks of Sony Pictures, JPMorgan Chase and the Ashley Madison dating service while pointing out that cyber-thieves are more often targeting consultants and law firms.
“One area, just quickly, that I’ll think we’ll be talking about in the future and that’s the vulnerability on the part of law firms and consultants,” Bharara said.
“Where do cyber-hackers go? They go where the information is, and where the information is, that’s where the money is,” Bharara added, noting that a lot of “sensitive information” is held in the digital servers used by consultants and law firms.
Then Bharara turned the discussion over to the panel, saying that cyberattacks can cause companies to lose customer base and stock value, and suffer damage to their reputations.
The panel discussed, among other things, ways to prevent hacks, how involved CEOs should be in the process and when companies should report the intrusions.
At one point, the panel had a spirited debate over the Sony hack by North Korea, which released confidential emails that prompted the film company’s co-chairman, Amy Pascal, to step down.
Milch was surprisingly cavalier in his assessment of the 2014 hack that came on the heels of Sony’s controversial film “The Interview” — a black comedy that mocked North Korea leader Kim Jong Un.
“It was horrible for some people, it was very embarrassing, but it wasn’t so bad. It wasn’t so bad,” Milch said, referring to email exchanges between Pascal and producer Scott Rudin talking smack about Hollywood stars, including Angelina Jolie.