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Snowden leak: Cavium networking hardware may contain NSA backdoor

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Re: Snowden leak: Cavium networking hardware may contain NSA backdoor

#571

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Whoosh. You went clean over my head, anyway.

What's so hard to understand? Nixon was literally caught on tape[0] conspiring to cover up CREEP payments; it's a bit funny to claim Watergate was all a deep stage conspiracy to screw Nixon when he was recorded committing crimes. [0] https://watergate.info/1972/06/23/the-smoking-gun-tape.html

I never claimed anything about his character or his innocence. I don't understand that you don't seem to understand that this was part of the process. They used his narcissism and paranoia to effect the plan.

Re: Snowden leak: Cavium networking hardware may contain NSA backdoor

#572

Looking more closely at this, the backdoor is almost certainly based on the back-doored random number generator, Dual_EC_DRBG, which is implemented as NIST SP 800-90A. From Wiki: >>> NIST SP 800-90A ("SP" stands for "special publication") is a publication by the National Institute of Standards and Technology with the title Recommendation for Random Number Generation Using Deterministic Random Bit Generators. The publ…

Computerphile has a video about this algorithm and its potential backdoor, it’s a great watch.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=nybVFJVXbww

Re: Snowden leak: Cavium networking hardware may contain NSA backdoor

#573

Snowden also said Russia wasn't going to invade Ukraine in 2022.

Most of the Ukrainian Government and military leaders were also pretty adamant Russia wouldn't invade either at that point.

Incorrect. Ukraine revamped their entire military and their relations with the West after Russia stole Crimea. Russian's 2 week war wouldn't be entering it's second year if Ukraine's government and military leadership were adamant they weren't going to be invaded.

Re: Snowden leak: Cavium networking hardware may contain NSA backdoor

#574

Snowden also said Russia wasn't going to invade Ukraine in 2022.

Is everyone living in Russia supposed to be a Russian military expert?

Not being an expert has never stopped Snowden claiming to be one.

Re: Snowden leak: Cavium networking hardware may contain NSA backdoor

#575
post #437

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ayup. We use AWS CloudHSM to hold our private signing keys for deploying field upgrades to our hardware. And when we break the CI scripts I see Cavium in the AWS logs. Now I gotta take this to our security team and figure out what to do.

The Intel Management Engine always runs as long as the motherboard is receiving power, even when the computer is turned off. This issue can be mitigated with deployment of a hardware device, which is able to disconnect mains power. Intel's main competitor AMD has incorporated the equivalent AMD Secure Technology (formally called Platform Security Processor) in virtually all of its post-2013 CPUs. https://en.wikipedia…

I think Ylian Saint-Hilaire hasn’t been with Intel for about a year now, after some layoffs. As a result the software ecosystem around AMT/vPro is lagging these days.

Hardware wise nothing changed, it’s just even harder for the actual owner of the hardware to use the legitimate management features while presumably easier for whoever could illegitimately abuse them.

Re: Snowden leak: Cavium networking hardware may contain NSA backdoor

#576
post #6

The tweet seems to imply that the entire Ubiquiti Networks line of network hardware could be compromised. That's a shame; I was thinking of installing some in my house. I'm sure that Ubiquiti's customers will not be happy if they find out that the US Govt can access their private data.

In a world where local PD can kick my door in, shoot me in the face, and the news will report that I had it coming because I own a gun, I find it hard to care that the IC can burn a technical access backdoor to access my private data.

Whataboutism. Both are wrongs and concerning.

Re: Snowden leak: Cavium networking hardware may contain NSA backdoor

#577

Very impressive work by the NSA, if true. Both from a political and technical perspective. It's good to know that our intelligence services are doing what they're supposed to, and doing it well. However, as interesting as this revelation is, it's unfortunate that Snowden decided to defect to the Russians and share his stolen cache of top secret documents with them and China, using Western journalists as ideological c…

This is the thing that rubs me the wrong way about Snowden - had he stayed and faced the music as a true whistleblower, he would've earned my respect for sticking to principles and acting as a loyal citizen acting in the interest of the country, even in the face of persecution. He did not do that. Instead, he's living a comfortable life in the bowels of a country that is committing vicious, daily war crimes. I don't…

LMAO comment on hacker news whenever you leak the severity and amount of information like snowden and let us know how valiant you are for reaping the unjust consequences.

you'll be a loyal citizen to a nation state that spies on its people, while torturing and killing other people for no good reason.

why is going to jail for whistleblowing honorable? that makes no sense to me.

Re: Snowden leak: Cavium networking hardware may contain NSA backdoor

#580

For anyone wondering "what's the big deal" it's worth remembering the NSA has a bad track record of keeping their own hacking tools secure. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Shadow_Brokers It infuriates me the NSA actively works to undermine American security. Their brief is to protect us, not plant backdoors and then lose the keys.

Hahaha. That “concern” is only for you guys in the US. I live in a state which has conflicting interests with the US.

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