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Secret contract tied NSA and security industry pioneer

reuters.com

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Re: Secret contract tied NSA and security industry pioneer

#231

Post by im3w1l »

PeterisP wrote: post #107
bowlofpetunias wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, it sounds like no product from any American company can be trusted as long as the current regime is in place. At least that's the message that comes through loud and clear in the rest of the world.

The same influence approach ($10m to choose a supposedly okay algorithm) would work just as well for most similar non-American companies, it isn't claimed that RSA did this because of some mandate which would fail if they'd be headquartered in, say, France.

Why keep the contract secret though?

Re: Secret contract tied NSA and security industry pioneer

#233

Post by bostik »

When the news about DUAL_EC_DRBG first came out, RSA defended their actions of inclusion and making it a default option by stating that it was at the time a popular choice. Back then I was aghast that a noted security company would make choices based on pure hipsterism. (My apologies to all hipsters, but in this case the word is in place.)

This news on the other hand makes it clear that RSA was not only being incompetent. They were being actively malicious. We've already seen anecdotes in this thread about NSA making house calls to security product vendors as far back as the 90's, so we must assume they haven't given up that venue and are still pushing their ideas, as well as pushing the vendors.

With that proof comes something a lot bigger: every single security product from a US company is now suspect. By logical extension, I will say that similar paranoia should be applied to all security products from Five Eyes countries.

The long-term financial fallout should be interesting material for future chroniclers.

Re: Secret contract tied NSA and security industry pioneer

#234

Post by jjoonathan »

javert wrote: post #226
mousefad wrote: post #212

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A catchy sound byte, but in almost all practical situations, the best defence is avoiding conflict. In fights: flee. In international affairs: diplomacy.

That is disasterous. That logic is why Chaimberlain allowed Hitler to get more and more and more power. ("Surely they'll agree to peace if we just let them have Poland.") It is also why my generation (I'm 27) will eventually have to fight a nuclear war that pits Iran against Israel and possibly the US. That war will potentially kill millions. And whose fault will it be? Obama's and Bush's. They will (if history is ju…

> That is disasterous.

You should have hedged with "can be" instead of "is." Fighting preemtive wars can be disastrous too.

> my generation (I'm 27) will eventually have to fight a nuclear war that pits Iran against Israel and possibly the US

Do you seriously believe that? Sure, Iran will get to throw their weight around a bit more with nuclear power, but they're not that desperate or stupid.

> Obama and Bush ... will go down in history ... just as Stalin and Hitler did

No.

> a minor tactical war [would] stop [Iran from developing nuclear weapons]

Maybe. You complain about "throwing away trillions" fighting silly wars and re-building countries. You do realize that the exact same sell (fight a minor war, stop the terrorists!) was used for the last two multi-trillion-dollar debacles, right?

Either we give them a bloody nose and they just try again (keeping their cards closer to their chest this time) or we spend trillions trying to install another puppet government.

Re: Secret contract tied NSA and security industry pioneer

#235

Post by atmosx »

SamReidHughes wrote: post #115
mcphilip wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your reaction to this story was wondering if it can be used to demonstrate another member of HN being wrong in the past? Petty

When 'tptacek is wrong, he's obnoxiously wrong, especially in his inability to believe in government misbehavior, and his willingness to denigrate "message board nerds" on that sort of matter. (See also his attacks on Greenwald when the Snowden story started.) So personally I was looking forward to seeing somebody comment about him.

Yeah, I get that a lot too. Also his attitude towards open source cryptography related projects is strange and totally unjustified imho.

Re: Secret contract tied NSA and security industry pioneer

#236

Post by kirubakaran »

guiambros wrote: post #152
elwell wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is wasn't perfect. There was a space between "but" and the ellipsis. Not to mention the several other mistakes.

It wasn't... You know, I hate being the guy that hate those who hate being that guy, but couldn't resist.

"You know, I hate being the guy that hate those who hate being that guy, but couldn't resist."

It is "I hate being the guy that hates those who hate being that guy" :-)

Re: Secret contract tied NSA and security industry pioneer

#237

Post by atmosx »

javert wrote: post #226
mousefad wrote: post #212

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A catchy sound byte, but in almost all practical situations, the best defence is avoiding conflict. In fights: flee. In international affairs: diplomacy.

That is disasterous. That logic is why Chaimberlain allowed Hitler to get more and more and more power. ("Surely they'll agree to peace if we just let them have Poland.") It is also why my generation (I'm 27) will eventually have to fight a nuclear war that pits Iran against Israel and possibly the US. That war will potentially kill millions. And whose fault will it be? Obama's and Bush's. They will (if history is ju…

USA made a war claiming that Iraq had Nuclear weapons. Apparently it didn't. The only one who gained anything from Iraq war, were 7 USA-based oil companies.

Iran has lost the war vs Iraq a some years ago. As a European, I don't see Iran as a threat. But you probably do...

Re: Secret contract tied NSA and security industry pioneer

#238

Post by qbrass »

guiambros wrote: post #152
elwell wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is wasn't perfect. There was a space between "but" and the ellipsis. Not to mention the several other mistakes.

It wasn't... You know, I hate being the guy that hate those who hate being that guy, but couldn't resist.

*hates those

Re: Secret contract tied NSA and security industry pioneer

#239

Post by mathattack »

mcantelon wrote: post #164
mathattack wrote: post #45

Shouldn't this destroy RSA as a company? If your in security, and your security can't be trusted...

It should, but AT&T's still in business and their collaboration with the state to spy on customers has been known for a long time.

AT&T is explicitly selling "we connect you", not "we secure you."
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