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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

#291

Post by a3n »

PhantomGremlin wrote: post #200
apaprocki wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Trusting trust :) This is one of, but not the main reasons why we build our own (Bloomberg B-Unit, PDF is the only good pic I see: http://www.bloomberg.com/professional/files/2013/11/b-unit_3... )

Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? Speaking of "trust", Bloomberg lost quite a lot of it when their reporters spied on their customers. Bloomberg Spying Went On For Years After Execs Knew: Report http://www.valuewalk.com/2013/08/bloomberg-spying-went-on-fo... You were probably just as horrified as most of the other employees at Bloomberg when that info became public. The bad apples cost Bloomberg a lot of reputation. My…

If I were at Goldman et al. I would expect Bloomberg to treat employees that successfully use underhanded tactics, as business as usual, the same way I would probably have seen such employees (and maybe myself) treated by my own organization: "Job well done boys, but you better cool it for awhile. BWA ha ha ha! Have a cigar and a hooker."

Re: Secret contract tied NSA and security industry pioneer

#292

Post by a3n »

mbrameld wrote: post #214

> "RSA always acts in the best interest of its customers and under no circumstances does RSA design or enable any back doors in our products. Decisions about the features and functionality of RSA products are our own." This means one of two things: Either this is a blatant lie by RSA, or RSA is not competent enough to evaluate cryptograpic algorithms. Neither possibility paints them in a favorable light.

"under no circumstances does RSA bla bla ..."

"Does." Present tense. Doesn't say anything about what happened in the past. Maybe their contract even included NSA services to launder language to be plausibly deniable, since that has also emerged as one of the NSA's core competencies.

Re: Secret contract tied NSA and security industry pioneer

#293

Post by yapcguy »

drivingmissm wrote: post #257
lostlogin wrote: post #254

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does anyone series believe that Iran is a threat to the world. How about basing threat levels on previous actions? For example, who invades countries most often? Or who's military kills the most people? I've heard about WMD threats before - and who did the invading and killing in the end? That saga ended with almost everyone looking bad.

Yes, Iran's totalitarian leadership is a threat to its neighbors, particularly Israel.

Well, the nuclear industry disagrees with you.

According to their experts, a nuclear Iran is a good idea.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Shah_of_Iran_building_two_...

Re: Secret contract tied NSA and security industry pioneer

#294

Post by dllthomas »

obstacle1 wrote: post #285
dllthomas wrote: post #281

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Like a celibate priesthood?

I here note that one can be sexually active without reproducing. No children doesn't imply celibacy.

Certainly the case. Historically, less the case but still the case...

Re: Secret contract tied NSA and security industry pioneer

#295

Post by coldtea »

smsm42 wrote: post #246
coldtea wrote: post #223

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not if you're a 800-pound gorilla against 30kg monkeys... Then offense is just offence.

Enough monkeys could take even 800-pound gorilla. In fact, it is considered a common knowledge that some bipedal monkeys regularly took 16000-pound mammoths, ate them and made dwellings out of their bones. So if I were a gorilla I wouldn't underestimate 30kg monkeys. Especially if they have advanced weaponry.

In theory maybe.

In actual life, the 800-pound gorilla is beating the shit out of monkeys, invades their villages, pushes them diplomatically, installs his lackey-monkeys in power in their jungles, and steals their resources.

And he counts any nick or scratch on his body (inflicted by the monkeys tiny hands) as worthy of the lives of 10,000 monkeys -- which he considers almost subhuman and even talks openly of "bombing them back to stone age".

Oh, and he maintains that he's the righteous and good one in all this, and it's doing it for their own good.

Re: Secret contract tied NSA and security industry pioneer

#296

Post by guiambros »

kirubakaran wrote: post #236
guiambros wrote: post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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" :-)

Mate! :)

Re: Secret contract tied NSA and security industry pioneer

#297

Post by snowwrestler »

nitrogen wrote: post #165
jballanc wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's enough wrong with what the NSA has been doing, and enough reasons to encourage people to take an interest in how to curtail, or at least better police, their actions without resorting to tawdry conspiracy theories. The NSA doesn't "protect" anyone. They are an intelligence agency. Their mandate is to collect information. The group you're thinking of, the one that's actually supposed to "protect" the network,…

"As part of the National Security Presidential Directive 54/Homeland Security Presidential Directive 23 (NSPD 54), signed on January 8, 2008 by President Bush, the NSA became the lead agency to monitor and protect all of the federal government's computer networks from cyber-terrorism." [Emphasis added] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NSA#Mission

Yes but their funding is not dependent on how secure RSA tokens are.

NSA did this to advance their mission, not to make a few extra bucks.

Re: Secret contract tied NSA and security industry pioneer

#298

Post by lawnchair_larry »

11001 wrote: post #272
paveldurov wrote: post #260

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The wish to broaden the contest is understandable and already taken into account http://bit.ly/1htlEod What I was saying in the comment above, however, had nothing to do with the contest. I expressed concern about tptacek's aggressive promotion of one algorithms (branded as "modern") over the other (claimed as "anachronistic") without any substantial proof. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6941934 This is really…

Could you please provide some proof that you are who you claim you are? Like a post on your VK page? Thanks.

In this case, it doesn't actually matter who he is, so there is no need really. Our responses would not be different if it were someone else saying the same thing.

Re: Secret contract tied NSA and security industry pioneer

#300

Post by blazespin »

suprgeek wrote: post #84

NSA invents weak (Back Door present) crypto algo. Pushes RSA to make it a Default in a key function (RNG) by giving them $10 Million. NSA points to RSA as an early adopter and gets NIST to certify it. Millions of systems are now protected by an RSA product that the NSA deliberately weakened. Any sufficiently skilled rogue actor can attack virtually any business that uses these RSA products - NSA (Cyber security Comma…

Not that many people use / used BSAFE. However, the news is still pretty mind blowing because it makes you wonder what else the NSA is doing.
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