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N.S.A. Devises Radio Pathway Into Computers

nytimes.com

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Re: N.S.A. Devises Radio Pathway Into Computers

#101

Post by niels_olson »

higherpurpose wrote: post #83
skue wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As upset as I am about the NSA, I agree that reports like these may be hard to justify as whistleblowing. This seems to be less about accountability and more about gawking at the NSA's toys. I suppose the NYT could argue that this article only reiterates what was previously reported on the ANT program, and the technology disclosed in that report is over 5 years old. Still, this article may get more attention because…

There's classified data coming from Washington or whatever government agencies to newspapers all the time through "sources". Do you really think everything that is given passes the highest standards for what should or not be leaked? At the end of the day it's the newspapers who decide what gets published.

It's also worth keeping in mind that the NSA may percieve, in this case rightly, that pushing this angle, which is all re-hashed information, would in fact not expose new information but could potentially reframe the debate in their favor.

Re: N.S.A. Devises Radio Pathway Into Computers

#102

Post by XorNot »

lazyjones wrote: post #64

So, any chances of finding such a device out in the wild? Suggestions for detecting the most likely used type of radio transmissions? How can they transmit over 5Km with USB power and no antenna?

Under the right conditions you can send radio messages around the world on as little as 5 watts.

You gotta remember that there's two sides to any radio system: the transmitter and the receiver, and both determine what you can do. After all, with the right antenna on one side, you can use wi-fi over a distance of miles.

Re: N.S.A. Devises Radio Pathway Into Computers

#104

Post by f_salmon »

> Richard A. Clarke, an official in the Clinton and Bush administrations who served as one of the five members of the advisory panel, explained the group’s reasoning in an email last week, saying that “it is more important that we defend ourselves than that we attack others.”

Pretty frightening that such things apparently still need to be said.

Re: N.S.A. Devises Radio Pathway Into Computers

#105

Post by venomsnake »

sinak wrote: post #84
todayiamme wrote: post #5

I 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…

I generally agree with this. I'm not sure what exactly this adds to the overall conversation. Does anyone have thoughts on why the NYT would choose to publish it, perhaps beyond pageviews? I tend to think that leaks like this one may weaken the overall view towards the Snowden leaks. As far as I can tell from reading the article it's a tool that's used in specific cases, and likely has value in that capacity.

Well the NYT may have something bigger in the pipeline that builds on that. NSA have this awesome ability, NSA abused it by spying on americans.

Re: N.S.A. Devises Radio Pathway Into Computers

#106

Post by venomsnake »

conductor wrote: post #20
staunch wrote: post #2

This sounds like a non-issue to me. Any person on this site could create little USB devices for stealing data. It's nothing special or new. I thought I was going to hear that they're light years beyond Tempest[1] or something. Feels good to finally hear an NSA story that doesn't depress me. 1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tempest_(codename)

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.

Any party that will make good airgap will make sure they are faradey caged too.

Re: N.S.A. Devises Radio Pathway Into Computers

#107

Post by [deleted] »

ewoodrich wrote: post #93
baddox wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> In the entire human history of diplomatic relations, nations have always attempted to spy on one another. Yes, and it's all bad. I don't see what's naive, or even controversial, about this.

So the US shouldn't have spied on the Japanese consulate in the 40s to anticipate the forthcoming declaration of war? Or intercepted German transmissions to break the Enigma code?

[deleted]

Re: N.S.A. Devises Radio Pathway Into Computers

#108

Post by NKCSS »

I remember an article on here a while back of a well known security or cryptology researcher that had a machine get re-infected by unknown malware time and time again without a network connection, who also observed radio waves and thought that was the iv...

Re: N.S.A. Devises Radio Pathway Into Computers

#109

Post by vdaniuk »

BWStearns wrote: post #88
todayiamme wrote: post #5

I 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…

As the Snowden leaks get further away from "they're spying on Americans" and more into "they're doing their job" I'm getting less and less sympathetic. This is just a way to exfiltrate data, if that way was on steroids and a bigger budget, but still very much within the scope of the legally declared mission of the agency. Why is anyone upset that a technical spy agency is spying using technical means?

As a foreigner, comments like yours make me question my assumption that regular Americans are not responsible for the atrocities committed by USG.

Why is anyone upset? I don't know, people don't want to be spied on? Hmm, yes, that may be the case here.

Re: N.S.A. Devises Radio Pathway Into Computers

#110

Post by igravious »

NKCSS wrote: post #108

I remember an article on here a while back of a well known security or cryptology researcher that had a machine get re-infected by unknown malware time and time again without a network connection, who also observed radio waves and thought that was the iv...

Was it this?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6646936

"Mysterious Mac and PC malware that jumps airgaps?"

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