New German law would force ISPs to allow secret service to install trojans
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New German law would force ISPs to allow secret service to install trojans
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Re: New German law would force ISPs to allow secret service to install trojans
#2The German surveillance state is very capable and often understated. They even “ran” Crypto AG with the NSA for decades and even profited from it.
Re: New German law would force ISPs to allow secret service to install trojans
#3It's worrying how government spies are getting legal cover to impersonate legitimate entities. Like spoofing a phone number and faking the voice of a loved one. You don't need to be able to compel speech, when you can employ doppelgangers.
> There's even a promotional video of how FinFly ISP sends a fake iTunes update and infects the target system with FinSpy
Does Apple not sign iTunes updates?
Re: New German law would force ISPs to allow secret service to install trojans
#4"will" = "according to a proposed law", but sadly par for the course for our governments to push this kind of thing through, even if a good chunk of their surveillance laws get eaten by the constitutional court. (Maybe we should have a rule that you can't be in politics anymore if multiple of the laws you supported were found to be unconstitutional? ...)
Re: New German law would force ISPs to allow secret service to install trojans
#5"will" isn't the exact translation of the headline, the idea is written in an upcoming law that will be discussed (or rubber-stamped?) next Wednesday...
Re: New German law would force ISPs to allow secret service to install trojans
#6Mods: This is an article about a proposed law, so "will" isn't really an accurate reflection (yet, or hopefully at all) and the title should be changed.
My proposal: "New German law would force ISPs to redirect traffic to intelligence services for trojan install" (if that is not to long).
Re: New German law would force ISPs to allow secret service to install trojans
#7It's worrying how government spies are getting legal cover to impersonate legitimate entities. Like spoofing a phone number and faking the voice of a loved one. You don't need to be able to compel speech, when you can employ doppelgangers. > There's even a promotional video of how FinFly ISP sends a fake iTunes update and infects the target system with FinSpy Does Apple not sign iTunes updates?
From the promo video of it running an ancient version of iTunes on Windows Vista and the brochures it seems they inject their malware via software updates in general, not just iTunes.
Re: New German law would force ISPs to allow secret service to install trojans
#8It's worrying how government spies are getting legal cover to impersonate legitimate entities. Like spoofing a phone number and faking the voice of a loved one. You don't need to be able to compel speech, when you can employ doppelgangers. > There's even a promotional video of how FinFly ISP sends a fake iTunes update and infects the target system with FinSpy Does Apple not sign iTunes updates?
From the promo video of it running an ancient version of iTunes on Windows Vista and the brochures it seems they inject their malware via software updates in general, not just iTunes.
I wouldn't be surprised if they force the installation of a certificate root they can use to serve malicious updates (for German OS X users, at least). That's a tactic used by agencies in other countries. Apple et al could probably mitigate this with certificate pinning in their updaters but I'm not sure they can get away with that without running into trouble with other countries that expect to be able to MITM updates.
Re: New German law would force ISPs to allow secret service to install trojans
#9Earlier quoted context omitted.
From the promo video of it running an ancient version of iTunes on Windows Vista and the brochures it seems they inject their malware via software updates in general, not just iTunes.
I wouldn't be surprised if they force the installation of a certificate root they can use to serve malicious updates (for German OS X users, at least). That's a tactic used by agencies in other countries. Apple et al could probably mitigate this with certificate pinning in their updaters but I'm not sure they can get away with that without running into trouble with other countries that expect to be able to MITM updat…
I would be surprised. IIRC those "other countries" are countries like Iran that have also just shut off access to the internet for the country. I still think we have a few more years of internet freedom in Germany before that happens.
Re: New German law would force ISPs to allow secret service to install trojans
#10Mods: This is an article about a proposed law, so "will" isn't really an accurate reflection (yet, or hopefully at all) and the title should be changed. My proposal: "New German law would force ISPs to redirect traffic to intelligence services for trojan install" (if that is not to long).
Send this to hn@ycombinator.com as an email.