Is Duncan's Encryption Truly Unbreakable?

[hitssquad]

kare11.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=104357

Joseph Duncan III is a computer expert who bragged online, days before authorities believe he killed three people in Idaho, about a tell-all journal that would not be accessed for decades, authorities say.

Duncan, 42, a convicted sex offender, figured technology would catch up in 30 years, "and then the world will know who I really was, and what I really did, and what I really thought," he wrote May 13.

Police seized Duncan's computer equipment from his Fargo apartment last August, when they were looking for evidence in a Detroit Lakes, Minn., child molestation case.

At least one compact disc and a part of his hard drive were encrypted well enough that one of the region's top computer forensic specialists could not access it, The Forum reported Monday.

Detective Jess Schoon, a Fergus Falls (Minn.) officer and a specialist for the Minnesota Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, checked the equipment for evidence in the Detroit Lakes case.

"Without a doubt the most challenging system I've looked at," Schoon said of Duncan's encryption.

Most of the seized discs and computer files were accessible and revealed nothing significant, he said. But he could not get at the hidden data.

"Nobody that I know of has the ability to crack that encryption," Schoon said.

 

[JamesU]

who's joseph duncan III?

 

[Smurf]

Wagers? anyone? I'll give him no more than a year until someone breaks the buffoons code

 

[Smurf]

who's joseph duncan III?

Wiki is your friend http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_E._Duncan_III

 

[hitssquad]

who's joseph duncan III?

news.google.com/news?q=duncan%20shasta

planethuff.com/darkside/

(Duncan is the one on the right.)

 

[JamesU]

I thought dylan and shasta groene were taken by their grandparents.

or was that another case on unsolved mysteries? oh, well..

 

[hitssquad]

Wagers? anyone? I'll give him no more than a year until someone breaks the [...] code

He reported in his blog that he was using PGP.
http://fifthnail.blogspot.com

--
I am working on an encrypted journal that is hundreds of times more frank than this blog could ever be (that's why I keep it encrypted). I figure in 30 years or more we will have the technology to easily crack the encryption (currently very un-crackable, PGP)
--

 

[Smurf]

He reported in his blog that he is using PGP.
http://fifthnail.blogspot.com

--
I am working on an encrypted journal that is hundreds of times more frank than this blog could ever be (that's why I keep it encrypted). I figure in 30 years or more we will have the technology to easily crack the encryption (currently very un-crackable, PGP)
--

PGP eh? 5 years, and that's being generous.

 

[Lyuokdea]

To some extent it depends on the exact algorithm being used, but most PGP code is very secure. My mostly uninformed estimate would be in the 30 year range if they are constantly trying to crack it, it will probably be at least 50 until we can crack it fast enough to make it worthwhile to try. Then from there it might take another 5 to actually crack it.

It doesn't mean that this guy is some sort of computer genius, anybody can download and use PGP, it is a very easy system to utilize.

~Lyuokdea

 

[Smurf]

This guy has some serious psychological disorders. See here and the wiki page for example. Electronically cracking the code shouldn't be the real problem. I reckon this guy left vulernabilities in the code, possibly something as simple as a guessable password, just like he's left clues in most of his cases.

Then again, I'm an amateur psychologist, if anyone has more insight...

 

[hitssquad]

If he had ever stored his secure-diary unencrypted (to be encrypted later), it should be readable off of the hard drive (by an elite data-recovery company, for example) since hard drives cannot be erased.

 

[Moonbear]

This guy has some serious psychological disorders.

Somehow I kind of guessed that from his photo and the fact that he's a convicted sex offender and suspected murderer.

 

[Entropy]

(Duncan is the one on the right.)

He looks like a chick.

 

[hitssquad]

He looks like a chick.

He is dressed in drag in that photo. Normally, he looks like this:

http://www.jetduncan.com/i/header.jpg

 

[JamesU]

Somehow I kind of guessed that from his photo and the fact that he's a convicted sex offender and suspected murderer.

and he dresses in drag

 

[Moonbear]

He is dressed in drag in that photo. Normally, he looks like this:

http://www.jetduncan.com/i/header.jpg

He sure is ugly in drag!

So, I'm trying to figure out just what it is, but in all those photos (except the one on the far left where he just looks like a geeky kid, sans "sex offender" sign) he just looks creepy. There's just something about the way he looks that if I ran into him on the street, even if I hadn't a clue who he was or what his past was, I'd get a REALLY uneasy feeling. I think it's something about his eyes in every one of those photos that just looks shifty or something.