Security Breach and Spilled Secrets Have Shaken the N.S.A. • Hacker News Board

Re: Security Breach and Spilled Secrets Have Shaken the N.S.A.

#21

Post by AJ007 » Sun, Nov 12, 2017, 6:19 PM UTC

totalZero wrote: post #5

Does this seem like sensationalist junk journalism to anyone else? We already know the NYT has an axe to grind regarding this administration, and they take some jabs here too. Even if you hate Trump, you should have the clarity to see that this article feeds into the Russia investigation by hyping up the harms of Russian meddling to stir up anti-Trump fervor over collusion, even though the events took place before he…

All of this happened during the Obama administration. Has nothing to do with Trump.

Re: Security Breach and Spilled Secrets Have Shaken the N.S.A.

#22

Post by [deleted] » Sun, Nov 12, 2017, 6:20 PM UTC

saas_co_de wrote: post #15

This is something I have been wondering about: how did both the CIA and NSA have their toolkits leaked within months of each other? Either one of these agencies suffering such a major security breach would be extraordinary but both at the same time is unprecedented.

[deleted]

Re: Security Breach and Spilled Secrets Have Shaken the N.S.A.

#23

Post by totalZero » Sun, Nov 12, 2017, 6:20 PM UTC

chiefalchemist wrote: post #19

Fjolsvith wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Probably Trump. However, many of the issues the NSA faces occurred before Trump's administration.

That's true. The concern should be Trump's sense of priorities. He's so easily distracted. He's seemingly more focused on Twitter than the NSA. He, similar to Obama, is the wrong "leader" at the wrong time. We're off course and getting more and more so with each day.

I'm just saying the NYT has clearly demonstrated that it has taken sides as a publication, and this bias doesn't make for good journalism, whether you agree with the bias or not.

Re: Security Breach and Spilled Secrets Have Shaken the N.S.A.

#24

Post by totalZero » Sun, Nov 12, 2017, 6:20 PM UTC

AJ007 wrote: post #21

totalZero wrote: post #5

Does this seem like sensationalist junk journalism to anyone else? We already know the NYT has an axe to grind regarding this administration, and they take some jabs here too. Even if you hate Trump, you should have the clarity to see that this article feeds into the Russia investigation by hyping up the harms of Russian meddling to stir up anti-Trump fervor over collusion, even though the events took place before he…

All of this happened during the Obama administration. Has nothing to do with Trump.

Yet he's mentioned four times in the article, which should tell you something.

Re: Security Breach and Spilled Secrets Have Shaken the N.S.A.

#25

Post by draw_down » Sun, Nov 12, 2017, 6:26 PM UTC

Sorry but NSA has no one to blame but themselves.

Re: Security Breach and Spilled Secrets Have Shaken the N.S.A.

#26

Post by kevin_thibedeau » Sun, Nov 12, 2017, 6:30 PM UTC

sebcat wrote: post #3

> The agency regarded as the world’s leader in breaking into adversaries’ computer networks failed to protect its own. Those are two very different things. Focusing on one of them doesn't automatically benefit your efforts on the other.

NSA is also responsible for establishing computer security practices for the rest of the government to follow. That they don't eat their own dogfood is damning.

Re: Security Breach and Spilled Secrets Have Shaken the N.S.A.

#27

Post by ryanlol » Sun, Nov 12, 2017, 6:31 PM UTC

totalZero wrote: post #24

AJ007 wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All of this happened during the Obama administration. Has nothing to do with Trump.

Yet he's mentioned four times in the article, which should tell you something.

The only thing this tells me is that you did not read the text surrounding those mentions.

They all portray him in a rather neutral light, except perhaps the "again on Saturday disputed his intelligence agencies’ findings on Russia and the election". You can hardly criticize that though.

You could even argue that the last mention paints him in a somewhat positive light,

>The Trump administration says it will soon announce revisions to the system, making it more transparent.

Re: Security Breach and Spilled Secrets Have Shaken the N.S.A.

#28

Post by spaceseaman » Sun, Nov 12, 2017, 6:32 PM UTC

leeoniya wrote: post #9

> "The fundamental purpose of intelligence is to be able to effectively penetrate our adversaries in order to gather vital intelligence. By its very nature, that only works if secrecy is maintained and our codes are protected." lol "codes"

Pretty common to use that terminology in the sciences and government work for small "kernels" of code that does one thing really well.

EX: Water simulation codes, cryptographic codes, FEM codes, etc.

Re: Security Breach and Spilled Secrets Have Shaken the N.S.A.

#29

Post by jelly » Sun, Nov 12, 2017, 6:34 PM UTC

natch wrote: post #17

One thing that is not talked about enough with NSA is that if they are capable of leaking some of their most sensitive and powerful tools, then they are also capable of leaking the most sensitive and private information they collect on people. Perhaps this has not yet happened, or perhaps it has (someone will no doubt point out any known incidents here if there are any) but the idea is unnerving. Maybe my wording is…

This was covered in a recent kaspersky paper[1], which I found in [2], where it is termed "fourth-party collection". The pdf gives a more complete description on page 2 (I found the increasing level of separation between collector and reciever to be almost comical)

[1] https://cdn.securelist.com/files/2017/10/Guerrero-Saade-Raiu...

[2] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15663985

Re: Security Breach and Spilled Secrets Have Shaken the N.S.A.

#30

Post by saltcured » Sun, Nov 12, 2017, 6:44 PM UTC

leeoniya wrote: post #9

> "The fundamental purpose of intelligence is to be able to effectively penetrate our adversaries in order to gather vital intelligence. By its very nature, that only works if secrecy is maintained and our codes are protected." lol "codes"

When I was roaming the halls of UC Berkeley 25 years ago, the use of countable "codes" was idiomatic in the numerical computing sphere at the intersection of computer science, mathematics, and parallel computing. A code was more or less a program or application. A frequently linked idiom was "kernel" to refer to the inner-loop of a particular numerical simulation, generalizing a "filter kernel" (matrix of coefficients) in signal processing/convolution.

I have heard similar usage from academics working in various US national labs, so it was not confined to a single coffee klatch. Some of the professors and postdocs using it back then are probably lab directors and program managers by now. I can easily imagine that this usage would be widespread among academic and federal lab computing environments. Like many kinds of jargon, it is both more precise in its meaning when used properly, but also what you might consider a "dog whistle" used for virtue signaling.