Prediction: If this goes on long enough, NSA (and other entities) will accidentally create Skynet.
Probably won't need the AI... all it takes is consolidating it into a bunch of easy to use push button setups. Then Milgram style situations occur.
How the NSA Plans to Infect “Millions” of Computers with Malware
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Re: How the NSA Plans to Infect “Millions” of Computers with Malware
#42Remember, Microsoft is part of this plot, even if they have "plausible deniability". Microsoft is giving NSA access to lists of vulnerabilities Windows has many months before Microsoft even begins to work on a fix. They are in effect helping NSA break into many computers, even if they are up to date. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-06-14/u-s-agencies-said-t... Every single one of these vulnerabilities could be see…
And this is why I'm glad my main OS is linux. Not impossible for NSA to get in but a lot more difficult.
I seriously doubt linux presents a challenge for them. Think about all the web servers that are linux, you think they don't have an army of experts that can pwn those OS's?
Re: How the NSA Plans to Infect “Millions” of Computers with Malware
#43Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yes it's called a revolution at which point we storm the bases and burn the data centres and monitoring stations to the ground. But, as Huxley was so keen to point out, that's not going to happen when people are staring at Honey Boo Boo and Hollyoaks.
Revolution is a tool of limited usefulness, and violent ones very often put something back in that is just as bad as what they ejected (see also: the KGB).
Bureaucracy survives revolutions, and often flourishes, as the bureaucats know how to get things done and more importantly how to exert control. Security orgs especially.
Consider Mr. Putin's past as an example.
If you work with government, you'll observe this first hand. The second echelons of management that are "professional" staff run the day to day operations, and can often bend or break political directives.
Re: How the NSA Plans to Infect “Millions” of Computers with Malware
#44The NSA, breaking into US computers, is violating the Third Amendment, in my opinion.
No Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.
Re: How the NSA Plans to Infect “Millions” of Computers with Malware
#45Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yes it's called a revolution at which point we storm the bases and burn the data centres and monitoring stations to the ground. But, as Huxley was so keen to point out, that's not going to happen when people are staring at Honey Boo Boo and Hollyoaks.
Revolution is a tool of limited usefulness, and violent ones very often put something back in that is just as bad as what they ejected (see also: the KGB).
Just a nitpick. It was Cheka(ЧК) and NKVD that were the scary secret police in the bad years of USSR. KGB as an agency didn't exist yet.
Re: How the NSA Plans to Infect “Millions” of Computers with Malware
#46Earlier quoted context omitted.
Close... It's Arch though.
So the only thing the NSA has to do is hack/convince/rendition/break-into-house a single person who holds a package signing key, and then they can MITM your pacman updater and have you as well. And there's enough people with such a key to choose from: https://www.archlinux.org/master-keys/ . (I run Arch as well, but I have no such illusions of security.)
As i said not impossible but at least we're not giving the NSA information about vulnerabilities months in advance of us fixing it.
Where there's a will there's a way especially if you have billions of dollars in funding and the freedom to do so i just aim to make it as difficult as possible.
Re: How the NSA Plans to Infect “Millions” of Computers with Malware
#47Earlier quoted context omitted.
Close... It's Arch though.
So the only thing the NSA has to do is hack/convince/rendition/break-into-house a single person who holds a package signing key, and then they can MITM your pacman updater and have you as well. And there's enough people with such a key to choose from: https://www.archlinux.org/master-keys/ . (I run Arch as well, but I have no such illusions of security.)
Or just employ people to contribute to some of the many popular upstream projects to slip in a vulnerability or two.
Edit: not to discredit Linux of FLOSS, at least there is the possibility to analyse the source code.
Re: How the NSA Plans to Infect “Millions” of Computers with Malware
#48Re: How the NSA Plans to Infect “Millions” of Computers with Malware
#49After a while all these news items about the NSA and GCHQ can seem a bit too much, but not if we take a step back and really understand the enormity of it all. The NSA and its cohorts set up fake Facebook websites, spoof security certificates, secretly record webcam streams, vacuum up everything they can lay their hands on etc. Meanwhile the CIA coolly wipes hundreds of documents from the machines of those who are in…
Yes it's called a revolution at which point we storm the bases and burn the data centres and monitoring stations to the ground. But, as Huxley was so keen to point out, that's not going to happen when people are staring at Honey Boo Boo and Hollyoaks.
During a revolution, those organizations would be burning their own data because when those organizations lose power the data becomes a liability rather than an asset to them. It becomes evidence of their crimes.
When the Berlin Wall fell, the Stasi began burning and shredding everything they could. German citizens stormed their buildings and much of the documents were saved, so that the crimes of the Stasi could be documented for prosperity.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stasi#Recovery_of_the_Stasi_fil...
Re: How the NSA Plans to Infect “Millions” of Computers with Malware
#50Earlier quoted context omitted.
And this is why I'm glad my main OS is linux. Not impossible for NSA to get in but a lot more difficult.
While Linux is probably slightly harder for a sophisticated attacker (and a lot harder for a unsophisticated one), a lot of your protection probably comes from the fact that they spend most of their time targeting the 98% of the desktop software base- that isn't Linux. Of course maybe their server oriented efforts make this moot.
The most vulnerable part of a server is the fact that it's a server.
It's a lot easier to attack the website running on the server and escalate from there then attack the OS directly.
So the vulnerability would have to be in something that both servers and desktops have in common.