India: Captured laptop used to kill Maoist leader Kishenji
Posted by Mike E on November 29, 2011
The following article appeared on the Naxal Revolution site.Panda’s laptop helped securitymen lay trap for Kishenji
Nov 25, 2011
A laptop confiscated recently from a top Maoist leader Sabyasachi Panda’s hideout in Odisha is believed to have helped the security forces carry anti-Maoist operation against Mallojula Koteshwar Rao alias Kishenji.
According to sources, the laptop was analysed by top analysts in Delhi to locate the whereabouts of the no 3 leader in the Maoist hierarchy.
According to sources, security forces including the CRPF had surrounded Kishenji and a few other top leaders in the forests of West Bengal on Wednesday itself. However, Kishenji managed to give police the slip only to land in the middle of yet another ambush. An encounter for half an hour resulted in his killing.
Panda’s laptop is believed to have provided several important clues about the whereabouts of other leaders including another politburo member Akkiraju Ramakrishna alias RK. According to soruces, RK was earlier spotted in the Andhra-Orissa border. However, a miscommunication among the security forces in cornering him allowed him to escape the police net recently. Though unconfirmed, sources said the next target would be RK since his location has almost been confirmed.
However, the rights groups are crying foul at Kishenji’s encounter. They believe like in the case of ‘encountered’ top leader Azad, Kishenji too was captured somewhere else and brought to Junglemahal only to be shot from close range. According to sources among the sympathizers, Kishenji has a security cover of about 40 people armed with advanced weaponry and there is no way he alone getting killed. The other version that is pointing at the cause of action is the infight within the Maoist party.
Though the staunch supporters of Maoists rule out any infighting, sources said that the local leaders particularly the natives of the eastern region in the party have always been opposing the way Kishenji operated and did not like a Telugu climbing up the ladder in the hierarchy. “Undoubtedly there is an information leak from within the party,” a source said.
Source : DNA http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_pandas-laptop-helped-securitymen-lay-trap-for-kishenji_1616995
Related Post List of Social Workers and Political Activists arrested, killed online.
Top Maoist’s laptop in police custody
Nov 20, 2011
In what could be termed as the most precious haul so far made during anti-Maoist operations, the police have seized a laptop computer used by top Maoist Sabyasachi Panda alias Sunil.
Panda’s laptop was recovered during a joint operation by the Odisha Police and the CRPF at Kerubadi jungle of Kandhamal district about a month ago. Though all the inmates, about 150 including Panda, of a Maoist camp could manage to escape from the place, the police could seize a number of items used by the Maoists in the dense forests. One of the seized items was the laptop; a senior official said, adding that after proper verification by experts, it was revealed that the laptop was being used by Panda, who continues to regulate all the Maoist activities in the State.
Panda’s laptop was sent to New Delhi, where it was decoded and read.
“We have found a lot of information like people in link with the Maoists, their future plans, their communication with their central committee members and the amount of funds generated by the Maoists in Odisha,” sources said. The laptop has many secret documents, which are in possession of the CRPF headquarters in New Delhi.
The information received from it is likely to be passed over to the Union Ministry of Home Affairs. Panda is one of the three top Maoists against whom the State Government is planning to announce a cash reward of `20 lakh. Panda, a young, sworn Maoist, has given slip to the police several times. The great escape from the Kerubadi jungle is dubbed as the latest bid to fool the security personnel.
“Information received from Panda’s laptop will certainly help as the police can keep vigil on the people whose names figure in the computer. The persons whose names are there do not also know whether their names exist in the laptop,” official sources added.
Source : Pioneer : http://www.dailypioneer.com/state-editions/bhubaneswar/21737-top-maoists-laptop-in-police-custody.html
bobh said
Repeat after me:
Full disk encryption
This is software that uses strong encryption across the entire hard drive. Without the password, any data on the drive is not readable.
Here’s a slashdot article about the impact of this on police forensics.
There are, of course, limitations:
If you forget your password, you lose your data.
If people have access to you computer, they can install a key stroke logger and get your password. Probably not an issue with a lap top in the jungle.
If you get caught, be prepared to be tortured to death to protect your data.
I don’t encrypt my data because no ones life depends on it. If the lives of 100s/1000s of comrades depends on it, then learn data security the way a soldier learns to strip and clean a rifle.
Any type of cadre organization that uses computers should make this a requirement to learn and use. We have the means to outwit our oppressors. Learn how to use it.
skepoet said
I have to go with Bobh on this: we have to be very careful about computers on logistical issues.
eric ribellarsi said
I agree with Bobh’s comments here. I once had a fierce argument with a supporter of the RCPUSA who accused me of “relying on technology instead of the people.” It was a de-facto argument that we should not have serious technology security measures together with a bizarre set of other security policies that would not work.
And encryption WORKS. There are many cases where even the FBI has spent months trying to crack Truecrypt’s (http://www.truecrypt.org/) full disk encryption and failed. And truecrypt literally takes 15 minutes to install.
Mike E said
I want to agree with this discussion… and make a proposal….
Let’s use kasama, over time, to raise the general level of understanding of
a) what the other side can do (in a demystified way)
b) what technological countermeasures some people are deploying
c) what some basic do’s and don’ts are for serious people in the 21st century.
I would like Kasama to post at least one substantive (even technical!) article a week.
who wants to be a sub-editor for that “journalism beat” and feed us key insights and materials. There is a sea of already-existing materials, exposures and to-do docs that we can share.
One a week, from now till victory. Bring it!
Tell No Lies said
This is an important discussion. There was a period when everyone I knew encrypted everything and we actively encouraged less political friends and family to do the same on the principle that every bit of computing power wasted cracking an encrypted pie recipe was power not available for actually valuable information. Which is to say that while bobh is correct that people with sensitive data have special responsibilities, there are some practices that should be generalized. I would be very interested in a discussion of what the current state of the art is for encrypting drives but also communications.
bezdomni said
Here is a really strong and relatively cheap hardware random number generator that works great for encryption:
http://www.entropykey.co.uk/
From the website:
“The Entropy Key generates a constant stream of very high-quality random numbers, ready to be mixed into the entropy already collected by your computer. The quality of the numbers passes randomness tests such as Diehard and Dieharder, chi and est. This means that when your computer requires random numbers, which is usually for very security-sensitive tasks such as certificate and key creation, administration, VPN access, and even customer-facing web requests, the data used to secure them is even stronger. The Entropy Key also makes it extremely difficult for any attacker to discover what random data has been used, even if they have physical access to the Entropy Key. ”
“The Entropy Key contains two high-quality noise generators, and an ARM Cortex CPU that actively measures, checks and confirms all generated random numbers, before encrypting them and sending them to the server. It also actively detects attempts to corrupt or sway the device. It aims towards FIPS-140-2 Level 3 compliance with some elements of Level 4, including tamper-evidence, tamper-proofing, role-based authentication, and environmental attacks. If it detects that one of its two generators has failed, may be about to fail, or if it detects a physical attack, it will automatically shut down.”
I would be glad to write an article on cryptography (low-tech and high-tech forms).
bezdomni said
Another thought:
It could make sense tactically to keep easily decoded or unencrypted data on a laptop for the authorities to seize as a means of feeding them disinformation. For example, keep a lot of easily decoded rubbish information on the hard drive and hide all of the real information on some other medium with strong encryption.
That is, if you know they are coming — instead of deleting or destroying the data, take the opportunity to throw them off the right track with a bunch of nonsense.
eric ribellarsi said
And continuing Bezdomni’s train of thought:
Truecrypt offers a way to “split” the volume of a laptop.
Here’s how it works:
You create TWO passwords, one that has sensitive information, and on that does not have sensitive information. If a person is ever extorted or threatened to give a password, the individual can give one password that points to the non-sensitive information, and it remains physically impossible even determine that there is another volume on the laptop.
bezdomni said
http://www.gnupg.org/
(GNU Privacy Guard – a very powerful cryptography engine)
Red Fly said
Mike’s suggestion to post technical articles is fine. But it would also be great if people could post articles for those of us who are less tech savvy too. The GNU Privacy Guard that Bezdomni linked to might be great but how easy is it to use? Instructions on some of these tools might as well be written in Greek.