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NSA infiltrates links to Yahoo, Google data centers worldwide

washingtonpost.com

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Re: NSA infiltrates links to Yahoo, Google data centers worldwide

#232

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The government outright tortured people for years, and nothing has come of it. I am not saying it's OK, but in that case, most US citizens aren't even affected. In the case of surveillance, data from US citizens is being directly compromised. Their attempt to do what they want to foreign individuals with surveillance actually causes some collateral damage to US citizens.

Who cares about the collateral damage done to US citizens? The problem is the damage done to non-US citizens.

I only made the distinction because someone pointed out that it's difficult for government agencies to get in legal trouble unless US citizens are the ones being harmed.

Re: NSA infiltrates links to Yahoo, Google data centers worldwide

#233
post #215
post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On the flip side of that, maybe you do want ex-NSA staff with the inside knowledge so you can protect yourself against their tactics. Isn't that the same reasoning for hiring ex-black hat hackers?

I am pretty sure they would be considered a traitor if someone told their new company how the NSA was doing things, just look at what they are calling Snowden.

Yes, absolutely, I agree with you. But just because you were ex-NSA does that mean you can no longer work in related work? What if you built their data centres, and you took a job at Google and tasked with building their new data centres. Do you just "forget" what you already know? I understand you may be under NDA to not discuss your previous work, but that doesn't meaning you can't make suggestions or plans without explicitly spelling it out, esp if your employer knew your background and you may not be able to speak about it openly.

Re: NSA infiltrates links to Yahoo, Google data centers worldwide

#234
post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You know what would outrage the public? ESPN being shut down. No better way to state it. Our government is fucking us with our pants on but we're too distracted (by people getting paid hundreds of millions of dollars to throw a fucking ball around) to care.

I bet if ESPN and shows like American Idol, etc. were knocked offline until we got our government back on track things would get done pretty fast.

The contempt you guys show for millions and millions of people because they prioritize privacy differently from you is really distasteful.

Re: NSA infiltrates links to Yahoo, Google data centers worldwide

#235

Google will never do it, but they should drown the NSA in bullshit data. So much so it literally chokes the NSA's ability to spy on Google's services. Google is one of the few companies that could pull it off. They have $56 billion in cash and nothing to do with it apparently. They generate $12 billion in profit annually and growing. They have more financial resources, computing power, and brain power than the NSA do…

The NSA could, however, get a law passed for like $1M that makes this practice illegal, if it isn't already.

Re: NSA infiltrates links to Yahoo, Google data centers worldwide

#236

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've seen no indication that Google considers the NSA any sort of opponent.

I think they do now. There has to be some sort of sense of personal professionalism of the many highly qualified security experts working at Google, that is hurt by the revelations that the NSA basically fucked them over and drew a slide with a smiley face on it about how they fucked them over.

It's strange to drawn a nose on a smiley...

Re: NSA infiltrates links to Yahoo, Google data centers worldwide

#237
post #129
post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When your opponent uses Navy submarines to tap undersea cables right under the Soviets' noses, you probably shouldn't trust your leased fiber with unencrypted data. This interception could occur where undersea cables make landfall without any datacenter antics.

you probably shouldn't trust your leased fiber with unencrypted data. Or even your own fiber (Google owns tens of thousands of miles of it). There's nothing to prevent the black-hat guys from digging down to a cable in the middle of nowhere and installing an optical tap. Especially if they did it before commissioning, after which signal levels would start being monitored.

>Google owns tens of thousands of miles of it

If this haven't already I imagine they will be hiring security forces to patrol and inspect.

Re: NSA infiltrates links to Yahoo, Google data centers worldwide

#238

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you also blame your car company when a thief breaks into it? Do you never trust banks again if a bank robbery happens? They were working on it, but full-on encryption everywhere within your internal network is expensive, and one tends to not imagine that buried dark fiber is dug up and tapped by one's own government. Let's say that they encrypted everything, and then you learn the NSA had kidnapped the children of…

What an unbelievably stupid line of thinking. Kidnapped their children? Get a hold of yourself here. Google is a tech company, it is a perfectly reasonable expectation that they get the big parts of their security model right. Not encrypting data going through leased (or even their own) fibers? Big, big mistake. NSA and US government aside, Google dropped the ball big-time here. > Why do I sometimes get the feeling t…

Security is based on threat model. The spooks have capabilities that far exceed the threat models most companies assume from private blackhats. You think it is obvious to assume in hindsight that the government would dig up and tap your dark fiber, but you don't think it obvious the government would plant spies to do in-side-the-data-center taps. Now what? Encrypt all data between switches? The Soviets didn't think their undersea cables could be tapped either, and no one can claim they were insufficiently paranoid.

My point is, I don't want Silicon Valley in an arms race with the US government. The government is supposed to protect its citizens and companies, not work to undermine them. Google is working on rolling out better security, just like they eventually rolled out SSL everywhere before most other companies. They are at the forefront on this, but it still takes time and costs money. But even though they are spending time and resources on this, I would still like the US government to cut it out.

Re: NSA infiltrates links to Yahoo, Google data centers worldwide

#239

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you also blame your car company when a thief breaks into it? Do you never trust banks again if a bank robbery happens? They were working on it, but full-on encryption everywhere within your internal network is expensive, and one tends to not imagine that buried dark fiber is dug up and tapped by one's own government. Let's say that they encrypted everything, and then you learn the NSA had kidnapped the children of…

What an unbelievably stupid line of thinking. Kidnapped their children? Get a hold of yourself here. Google is a tech company, it is a perfectly reasonable expectation that they get the big parts of their security model right. Not encrypting data going through leased (or even their own) fibers? Big, big mistake. NSA and US government aside, Google dropped the ball big-time here. > Why do I sometimes get the feeling t…

Why would have they treated their own fibers untrustworthy?

Re: NSA infiltrates links to Yahoo, Google data centers worldwide

#240

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you lay out the charges, special prosecutor?

Whats the charge for a state being the enemy of its own citizens?

I think in those sorts of situations, when the people are actually in a position of power over their government and thus able to effectively prosecute it, official charges are typically not bothered with. (or if they are, nobody bothers actually proving them during the 'trial'.)
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