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The Conversation - Cracking bin Laden’s computer code: unlikely

Assuming bin Laden’s files are indeed encrypted using AES-256, the only way I can see to break the encryption would be to use a painstaking “brute force” technique.

This would involve trying all of the 2²⁵⁶ possible encryption keys. This works out at 1.16x10⁷⁷ different codes to try (the number one with 77 zeroes after it).

This process would require hundreds of thousands of specially-built machines, the likes of which do not currently exist. Even if they did, we would need many, many times the length of the universe’s lifespan to carry out the search.

In other words, it’s not going to happen.

NewScientist - US seizes Osama bin Laden's hard drives

The US Navy SEAL team that found and killed Osama bin Laden on Sunday have recovered a number of computer drives and disks, dubbed "the mother lode of intelligence" by one US official speaking to Politico.com. Intelligence operatives are now apparently sorting through the digital haul, but what might they find?

It all depends on whether or not bin Laden's data is encrypted, as modern encryption techniques are mathematically uncrackable if used correctly. Data encoded using the AES-256 encryption scheme would take longer than the age of the universe to crack, which is why the US National Security Agency (NSA) endorses it for protecting documents classified "Top Secret".

We don't know whether bin Laden or other al-Qaeda members used AES-256, but it's certainly possible. Last year the organisation supposedly published a magazine called Inspire that contained an article on using a piece of encryption software known as Asrar al-Mujahideen 2.0, which uses AES-256 along with other encryption methods.

Politico - Exclusive: Raid yields trove of data

The assault force of Navy SEALs snatched a trove of computer drives and disks during their weekend raid on Osama bin Laden’s compound, yielding what a U.S. official called “the mother lode of intelligence.”

The special operations forces grabbed personal computers, thumb drives and electronic equipment during the lightning raid that killed bin Laden, officials told POLITICO. 

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