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Kaspersky: Yes, we obtained NSA secrets. No, we didn’t help steal them

arstechnica.com

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Re: Kaspersky: Yes, we obtained NSA secrets. No, we didn’t help steal them

#31

Post by mcny »

orf wrote: post #6

So an NSA contractor or employee takes confidential/highly sensitive code and documents home and leaves it on their machine. They then install a pirated version of Office, after disabling their antivirus software which is telling them it is infected with a virus and preventing the installation. Seems like massive incompetence from this user rather than Kaspersky doing anything malicious, and those files where destine…

> those files where destined to be leaked somehow the moment they left the NSA

Those files were destined to be leaked somehow the moment they were created.

> Seems like massive incompetence from this user

So when we delete production data, it is a process failure[Gitlab postmortem] but when employees at a three letter agency cause spillage, it is a felony? It is wrong on several counts. One: this is data that we should not be hoarding in the first place. We should be helping vendors fix their stuff so the cachet of information automatically loses its value to people who want to get it. Two: Even if we are an axis of evil and don't want to do the right thing, punishing this individual seems like the thing the higher ups at an oppressive regime would do to prevent the wrath of the dictator on themselves for failing to prevent what is really a system failure.

[Gitlab postmortem] https://about.gitlab.com/2017/02/10/postmortem-of-database-o...

Edit while I have your attention I would like your support in ending the CFAA https://cfaa.eff.org/

Re: Kaspersky: Yes, we obtained NSA secrets. No, we didn’t help steal them

#32

Post by maskedinvader »

X86BSD wrote: post #29
ctrl-j wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Just as is Russian “collusion” with trump. Absolutely zero evidence at all only unnamed sources and speculation. Just out of curiosity, what makes you think there is zero evidence? How would we know what evidence Mueller's team has uncovered? How do you reconcile all of the interactions between the trump campaign and the various Russian entities involved?

None of which were illegal. There has been zero evidence uncovered or produced by anyone in 10 months. This is nothing but a witch hunt to demonize some idiot the left hates. It’s transparent and disappointing. While the left gets away with Benghazi and uranium one. There is no justice only the decision of those in power.

There is no justice only the decision of those in power.

-do you really want that power to be in the tiny hands of an orange clown ? #justcurious

Re: Kaspersky: Yes, we obtained NSA secrets. No, we didn’t help steal them

#33

Post by 55555 »

matt4077 wrote: post #14
r3bl wrote: post #3

I have to ask: Is there any concrete evidence against Kaspersky doing anything remotely concerning since this whole charade against them started in 2015 or is it still "they're Russian, so they must be doing something bad" scenario? EDIT: Fuck if I understand why people like JohnStrange, revelation and ryanlol are downvoted in their replies to this comment. They're on topic.

It's a security company run mostly by ex-KGB and dependent on the good will of an administration willing to very publicly murder their opponents[0], and not bound by anything resembling rule of law. So yes, it is possible, maybe even likely, that Kasperky is doing nothing shady and has only the best intentions. It's also somewhat irresponsible to entrust them with any data of value. Those two things are not mutually…

Perhaps I'm confused, but did you mean to add a footnote/citation ([0])?

Re: Kaspersky: Yes, we obtained NSA secrets. No, we didn’t help steal them

#34

Post by matt4077 »

55555 wrote: post #33
matt4077 wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a security company run mostly by ex-KGB and dependent on the good will of an administration willing to very publicly murder their opponents[0], and not bound by anything resembling rule of law. So yes, it is possible, maybe even likely, that Kasperky is doing nothing shady and has only the best intentions. It's also somewhat irresponsible to entrust them with any data of value. Those two things are not mutually…

Perhaps I'm confused, but did you mean to add a footnote/citation ([0])?

Yeah. Just google for Polonium. They murdered someone, and made sure the victim, and the whole world, knew exactly who was behind it.

Re: Kaspersky: Yes, we obtained NSA secrets. No, we didn’t help steal them

#35

Post by JohnStrange »

forapurpose wrote: post #21

The article contains a useful recap of the evidence so far regarding this particular Kapersky issue, but the news is Kerpersky's denial. I don't take the latter to mean too much either way; when you get into the world of intelligence, plausible denials are the norm, and corporations practice it pretty commonly too. Of course the U.S. government had to remove Kapersky from its computers. Russian intelligence has been…

What I find hilarious about this whole story is that the US government allowed highly intrusive software from a non-allied country on government machines in the first place. It seems fairly reasonable to restrict software on machines that potentially hold confidential information (incl. e.g. patient data, payrolls) to software that is produced in the same country or by companies of close allies, or at least by companies who agree to some auditing.

Yet allowing anything seems fairly common practice, even more so outside the US. I wonder how many government employees of countries other than the US have Gmail accounts and put all their documents on Google docs, etc. Not to mention online backups which tend to be more expensive for servers located outside the US...

Re: Kaspersky: Yes, we obtained NSA secrets. No, we didn’t help steal them

#36

Post by cisanti »

cisanti wrote: post #7
X86BSD wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s a witch hunt slash scapegoat. Just as is Russian “collusion” with trump. Absolutely zero evidence at all only unnamed sources and speculation. All the money wasted on this politics garbage sigh.

The witch hunt has gone so crazy that even the author of faceapp than removes make up was somehow tied to "Russian troll farms". It's sickening.

Why are you downvoting me, people? What is that I said was wrong?!

Re: Kaspersky: Yes, we obtained NSA secrets. No, we didn’t help steal them

#37

Post by odiroot »

r3bl wrote: post #3

I have to ask: Is there any concrete evidence against Kaspersky doing anything remotely concerning since this whole charade against them started in 2015 or is it still "they're Russian, so they must be doing something bad" scenario? EDIT: Fuck if I understand why people like JohnStrange, revelation and ryanlol are downvoted in their replies to this comment. They're on topic.

Watching US situation from outside it's seems there's an urgent need for some kind of a bad guy.

Kaspersky is just easy target and apparently three-letter-agencies have means to steer the media to pursue this direction.

Re: Kaspersky: Yes, we obtained NSA secrets. No, we didn’t help steal them

#38

Post by thatguy0900 »

maskedinvader wrote: post #32
X86BSD wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

None of which were illegal. There has been zero evidence uncovered or produced by anyone in 10 months. This is nothing but a witch hunt to demonize some idiot the left hates. It’s transparent and disappointing. While the left gets away with Benghazi and uranium one. There is no justice only the decision of those in power.

There is no justice only the decision of those in power. -do you really want that power to be in the tiny hands of an orange clown ? #justcurious

As much as you may dislike him, please don't use this kind of discourse on HN.

Re: Kaspersky: Yes, we obtained NSA secrets. No, we didn’t help steal them

#39

Post by Asdfbla »

Seems plausible, though regardless of whether Kaspersky cooperates (maybe under some gag order) with Russian agencies or not, it seems prudent for any government in the world to avoid using software that potentially uploads confidential data to foreign servers. Governments anywhere would probably be ill-advised to use anti-virus software from countries like the US or Russia, unless they can be sure that cloud analysis is either disabled or done in local datacenters.

I guess on the bright side at least the anti-virus market has a variety of firms based in many different countries, so you can choose your poison based on how trustworthy you find the respective governments. Doesn't help you when they themselves get hacked though.

As for the story itself, I kinda dislike the reliance on access journalism and "unnamed" sources in many of the reports. Yes, there surely are many legitimate reasons why sources have to remain anonymous, no doubt about that. But in a case that's so highly political it kinda leaves a bad taste if the story is so dependent on unnamed government sources.

Re: Kaspersky: Yes, we obtained NSA secrets. No, we didn’t help steal them

#40

Post by krapp »

cisanti wrote: post #36
cisanti wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The witch hunt has gone so crazy that even the author of faceapp than removes make up was somehow tied to "Russian troll farms". It's sickening.

Why are you downvoting me, people? What is that I said was wrong?!

I didn't downvote you, but you're responding in agreement to an obvious troll and spreading propaganda about a vast left-wing "witch hunt" which only serves to dilute and further degrade what little intellectual value this thread might have possessed.
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