So it turns out that the founder of the "whistle-blowing" site, WikiLeaks, has a back up plan. In case of the shut down of his website, Julian Assange has circulated throughout the internet an encrypted file cache that is suspected to include information on British Petroleum and Guantanamo Bay. The "poison pill" is what it's called. One file was identified this week by The Sunday Times, called the "insurance" file, has been downloaded by tens of thousands of supporters from all over the world. Assange has issued a warning that should any government attempt to stop his activities, they risk triggering a new deluge of state and commercial secrets. Military papers on Gitmo have yet to be published, and were supplied by Bradley Manning, Assange's primary source until his arrest. Other files that Assange possess include aerial footage of a U.S. airstrike that killed Afghan civilians, BP confidential files, and Bank of America documents.
One of the files that is available for download from WikiLeaks is entitled insurance.aes256. As its name suggests, it is encrypted with a 256-digit key. Experts say its most likely unbreakable. The United States' Department of Defense says that it is aware of the site's insurance file, but it has been unable to confirm the contents of the package. Assange has warned that should he be detained of if the website should be permanently removed from the internet, he will release the files. It has been suggested that the files are unredacted, posing a possible security risk for coalition partners. Amazon, the host of the website, refused WikiLeaks access to the servers last week, and EveryDNS.net, the site that provided WikiLeaks with its domain name has also cut them off from service. They are now existing through a domain provided by the Swiss Pirate party, which champions internet freedom.
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