His file was compromised because someone he trusted published the decryption key in a book. This was either deliberate or a human error (and it was an error in Assange's judgement to give the guy the key). This example doesn't provide evidence that encryption is usually technically flawed. The Sunday Times article smacks of propaganda. Any claim it makes that the Chinese and Russians have cracked some encrypted trove of Snowden's files should be approached with a sensible amount of skepticism. This guy puts it well: http://notes.rjgallagher.co.uk/2015/06/sunday-times-snowden-china-russia-questions.html Assange has had one file compromised, and he is adept in this area.
Which is why I said "This suggests that most encryption is poorly done (technically or socially)". The encryption itself is technical, but sharing the resulting data is a social act. Doing both parts right is hard, as Assange demonstrated. And failure in either aspect breaks the whole shebang. It is interesting to note that there are technical solutions to prevent what happened in that case. But hindsight is also 20/20. ---- I agree that the Sunday Times article smacks of propaganda. His file was compromised because someone he trusted published the decryption key in a book. This was either deliberate or a human error (and it was an error in Assange's judgement to give the guy the key). This example doesn't provide evidence that encryption is usually technically flawed.