"In most cases, the radio frequency hardware must be physically inserted by a spy, a manufacturer or an unwitting user." [emphasis added]
US manufacturers sold pre-bugged equipment to the eastern bloc during the cold war, so why not now?
N.S.A. Devises Radio Pathway Into Computers
51–60 of 147 posts
Re: N.S.A. Devises Radio Pathway Into Computers
#52> The technology, which has been used by the agency since at least 2008, relies on a covert channel of radio waves that can be transmitted from tiny circuit boards and USB cards Obviously if someone has physical access to a machine it can be compromised. Replace "USB Cards" with "USB WiFi stick" and you've achieved the same thing. This is just FUD. Machines that are air-gapped from the Internet with tight physical se…
It seems to me you missed the "can be inserted by the manufacturer" portion of the article. Doesn't require physical access, just that they purchase a compromised machine.
Also secured facilities generally monitor for things like unauthorized WiFi access points and clients.
Re: N.S.A. Devises Radio Pathway Into Computers
#53badBIOS and now this. Sigh.
Re: N.S.A. Devises Radio Pathway Into Computers
#54This reminds me of a lunatic I was talking to in Best Buy some 12 years ago. He claimed that he knew about, was aware of, and involved with a government program/technology where they could plug in a device to a computer and immediately gain access to all current computers at the time.
It was bullshit then, and it is bullshit now. Yes there are such things as side channel timing attacks against secure chips, but it isn't going to work with a fucking usb device plugged in outside of the metal cage that is a pc case.
This article is F.U.D.
NSA? Come get me if you think you really can.
Re: N.S.A. Devises Radio Pathway Into Computers
#55Earlier quoted context omitted.
It can be inserted by a manufacturer, as mentioned in the article. A little chip (inside the motherboard/CPU/hard disk/graphic card) with a radio module that can receive radio signals and write the received data directly into hard disk and/or RAM or read bytes from the hard disk and/or RAM and/or graphic card and transmit it back.
I imagine the widgets transmit and receive over multiple spectrums, bouncing the spectrum around as they do. I wonder if technology now can tweak and coordinate the multiple existing radios (Wifi, bluetooth, GSM/CDMA/3G/4G etc) on phones and computers to deliver the same result. Is that possible? Would that require changes in silicon or could it be done with baseband software changes or even above that? I have no ide…
I imagine the widgets transmit and receive over multiple spectrums
I seem to recall a strong opposition by the government to the development of consumer ultra-wideband radios. I wonder if this was part of the reason. Either way, it looks like some applications of UWB are available now, though, such as wireless HDMI.
Re: N.S.A. Devises Radio Pathway Into Computers
#56This is another example of how Snowden has compromised national security by leaking secret information that has nothing to do with American metadata and everything to do with the NSA's charter and legal mission.
Or, perhaps, an example of what all intelligence agencies are using, not just the NSA. With knowledge of these techniques, multinational corporations can try to protect themselves against industrial espionage by foreign governments.
Re: N.S.A. Devises Radio Pathway Into Computers
#57I do understand that it is now the status quo to disavow everything the NSA is, but foreign intelligence gathering is their mission and releasing these details simply doesn't help the cause of fixing the NSA's less savoury incursions. While arguably any foreign intelligence agency of note isn't going to be caught off guard by these leaks, leaking these details does offer political ammunition to the very people who st…
Who's to say that American intelligence gathering is on the right 'side'? Why should members of 'foreign' countries be held to a different standard?
Americans. Who, coincidentally, fund the NSA.
Re: N.S.A. Devises Radio Pathway Into Computers
#58"We do not use foreign intelligence capabilities to steal the trade secrets of foreign companies" Nobody with an unspoiled mind and following the news last year will believe this bullshit. If there is anything, people all over the world (also in the US) should have learned: Statements from people of some federal US organisations can not be believed at all -- in many cases the complete opposite is true.
There are plenty of weasel words in that sentence. Ample opportunity to tell the truth by using unintuitive definitions of terms.
Re: N.S.A. Devises Radio Pathway Into Computers
#59Earlier quoted context omitted.
Why do you go into political discussion boards (meaning political news here), when you don't like them? Just wondering.
I came looking for a discussion of the mechanism by which such an attack might be possible.
They plug wireless network cards (certainly not usng standard WiFi) into the computer. That's the entire technical challenge.
Re: N.S.A. Devises Radio Pathway Into Computers
#60Earlier quoted context omitted.
It seems to me you missed the "can be inserted by the manufacturer" portion of the article. Doesn't require physical access, just that they purchase a compromised machine.
Also secured facilities generally monitor for things like unauthorized WiFi access points and clients.
Did the article say these devices use WiFi, or do they use something else?