A research team led by Nikola Bobic, a part-time professor at Ottawa University, aims to create a virtual network on the Internet called "Cryptobox", which would be similar to peer-to-peer systems like Gnutella.

Cryptobox members would be able to communicate anonymously with one another, if they chose, without bothering with the complicated and time-consuming steps today's encryption technology entails.

Bobic said he and his team don't claim the system is 100 percent secure. "Anyone in the industry who claims something like that is selling snake oil, and everyone should be advised to stay away," Bobic told NewsFactor Network.

"What we are doing is creating sets of barriers that an attacker will have to successfully break," Bobic said. "No matter how impossible and improbable these steps are, the possibility does exist that someone will break Cryptobox... but an attacker would need extraordinary resources to read your messages."

Bypassing FBI Surveillance

Despite the beliefs of many Web surfers, today's Internet communications are far from secure. Anyone with the knowledge and will to tap into a network at the relevant points can read e-mail and instant messages. One example is the FBI's controversial e-mail surveillance program, formerly known as Carnivore, which is under fire from lawmakers and privacy advocates.

"From the information that we've been seeing, Cryptobox would have no problem circumventing all of Carnivore's attacks," Bobic said on his Web site.

Also, encrypted messages have weaknesses -- an eavesdropper may be unable to decipher a particular message, but could determine the identities of the two parties communicating. The Cryptobox system, say its designers, broadcasts the message within a stream of fake data, "making it difficult for eavesdroppers to pick out genuine messages in the first place."

Bobic and his team say the more "socially conscious purpose" of the project is to combat increasing Internet censorship, and they "dedicate" Cryptobox to oppressed people around the world.

"We are hoping that an (application) like this will help them disseminate their views freely and without any fear of prosecution."

Successfully Tested

Normal encryption methods are rather cumbersome, involving two people using compatible software who must exchange "keys," or pieces of code for each exchange. There are also secure e-mail services that have encryption built into Web browsers.

With Cryptobox, users would first download a program. Then, in order to communicate with another member, the user would enter the user ID of the person he or she wanted to communicate with. The system would automatically exchange encryption keys each time. Both members would have to be connected at the same time; the program can be left running in the background. (continued...)

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