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Dept. of HS: NSA 'Helped' Develop Vista and Windows Seven

D

Dude111

Analogue is Awesome
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".....squashed questions related to the possibility that NSA built a backdoor into Windows 7 in order to monitor end users. Both agreed that such a move would simply be too risky for Microsoft to undertake, especially in the context in which the Redmond company would try to hide it from customers."

I think if there was any spyware hidden by microsoft / NSA it would sooner or later be discovered. I bet you would then find a significant movement to Linux or Mac.
 
But if you can't find it then you don't know it is there and can't prove that it is illegal. Right?
 
Interesting, although perhaps slightly paranoid discussion.

If there was any active "phone home" secret stuff embedded in the OS it would be detected fairly easily by anyone sniffing network traffic originating from the machine.

Encrypting the content might make it difficult to decypher exactly what information is being transmitted, but the communication attempt would be immediately apparent.

BTW..Lets try to keep the politics out of this one.
 
hpsenicka said:
Interesting, although perhaps slightly paranoid discussion.

If there was any active "phone home" secret stuff embedded in the OS it would be detected fairly easily by anyone sniffing network traffic originating from the machine.

Encrypting the content might make it difficult to decypher exactly what information is being transmitted, but the communication attempt would be immediately apparent.
Click to expand...
My thoughts exactly!
Regards,
Jim
 
It's the old story - if you think anything you do on your computer is private....!! Even the operating system is not owned by the user.

DH
 
NSA's contribution to platform security should be no surprise, nor should it be a source of conspiracy theory, to anyone who is familiar with the information security profession.

NSA has published hardening guidelines for several operating systems for years now and these guides are a good resource for the information security professional (like, say, yours truly :D).

They've also established a standard approach for risk assessment, the INFOSEC Assessment Methodology & INFOSEC Evaluation Methodology for conducting risk assessment engagements. Many infosec pros use these methodologies and are trained in them.

So, it stands to reason that NSA folks might pitch in to the efforts to help Microsoft secure Windows 7.

If anything Windows 7 is *far* less likely to have spyware than prior Windows versions due to the extensive security engineering work that went into their SDL this time around, and all the features added. Never thought I'd see the day when Windows would be the most secure commercial platform. Go figure.

Michael
 
Privacy...on a computer hooked to the Internet? The more I think about it the entire notion is quite laughable.
 
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