RSA denies link with US spying agency
1–10 of 16 posts
Re: RSA denies link with US spying agency
#2I don't really understand why any organization which has even a remote possibility of a conflict of interest would accept money from a spy organization.
Re: RSA denies link with US spying agency
#3I don't really understand why any organization which has even a remote possibility of a conflict of interest would accept money from a spy organization.
For a host of reasons, including personal and corporate pressure.
Re: RSA denies link with US spying agency
#4It's basically a non-denial, they don't deny that they took money in exchange for using the backdoored algorithm.
If they took the money and didn't know the algo was backdoored both the original allegation and denial could be factually correct.
Re: RSA denies link with US spying agency
#5EMC owns RSA -- Can we trust EMC?
Re: RSA denies link with US spying agency
#6It's basically a non-denial, they don't deny that they took money in exchange for using the backdoored algorithm. If they took the money and didn't know the algo was backdoored both the original allegation and denial could be factually correct.
I have admire the careful wording: "We also categorically state that we have never entered into any contract or engaged in any project with the intention of weakening RSA's products, or introducing potential 'backdoors' into our products for anyone's use."
This leaves the door open for a lot of things, including them having weakened their products and added backdoors. They just deny having entered a contract with the intention of doing so.
Though one has to wonder how exactly that deal went down. You wouldn't have to pay RSA anything to implement a good crypto algorithm because they'd do that out of pure business interest. Did the NSA call and ask "Here's a new RNG algorithm, it's slower than others and mathematically dubious. Would you implement it for $10 million?"
Re: RSA denies link with US spying agency
#7[deleted]
Re: RSA denies link with US spying agency
#8EMC owns RSA -- Can we trust EMC?
lol, absolutely not. I worked there for a year, and I still have a lot of friends who work there. EMC is absolutely not to be trusted - who do you think is supplying the storage for the NSA datacenters, specifically their 'big boy' out in Utah?
Re: RSA denies link with US spying agency
#9It's basically a non-denial, they don't deny that they took money in exchange for using the backdoored algorithm. If they took the money and didn't know the algo was backdoored both the original allegation and denial could be factually correct.
I have admire the careful wording: "We also categorically state that we have never entered into any contract or engaged in any project with the intention of weakening RSA's products, or introducing potential 'backdoors' into our products for anyone's use." This leaves the door open for a lot of things, including them having weakened their products and added backdoors. They just deny having entered a contract with the…
Most probably they said something like "many of your government agency customers would be very happy if / will require that you implemented this PRNG".
Re: RSA denies link with US spying agency
#10I don't really understand why any organization which has even a remote possibility of a conflict of interest would accept money from a spy organization.
There were 10 million reasons. If you don't have any moral qualms, it was clearly a good business decision. People kept jobs, got raises, got bonuses, and it took one of the most important leaks in US (and world) history to cause the arrangement to be disclosed.
Now, after all of the individuals at the company claim to have had no knowledge or it, or to be against it after the fact, they will go on to new well-paying jobs.
This is why.