Broadband Tech > Security > Security > Dept. of HS: NSA 'Helped' Develop Vista and Windows Seven

said by Shomari:

why is the OS so shoddy if DHS and NSA resources were applied towards it's fortification? I'm perplexed. . .

said by Shomari:

...
Alternative analysis: (Non Tech)

»www.prisonplanet.com/nsa-is-givi···ity.html

said by MacGyver:

PEBKAC.

said by Dude111:

Windows 7 probably has all kinds of spyware communicating with Microsoft. ITS THE WORST OS FOR PRIVACY!! (Even if doing nothing wrong,PRIVACY SHOULD BE YOURS ON YOUR COMPUTER!)

said by Dude111:

Windows 7 probably has all kinds of spyware communicating with Microsoft. ITS THE WORST OS FOR PRIVACY!! (Even if doing nothing wrong,PRIVACY SHOULD BE YOURS ON YOUR COMPUTER!)

said by Shomari:

This is interesting to say the least. . .why is the OS so shoddy if DHS and NSA resources were applied towards it's fortification? I'm perplexed. . .

said by Woody79_00:

Another reason to use Linux I say

said by DarkSithPro:

Didn't the NSA make it's own Linux Distro a while back, and released to the Public? lol

said by KodiacZiller:

No, it ported its "FLASK" MAC/MLS architecture to Linux so that development of the system could continue in the public domain. This was done back in 2000 and is now called SELinux. Red Hat has been enabling a SELinux profile by default for a number of years now.

SELinux is not a distro -- it's a kernel patch. And it is a different animal from what M$ has been doing. For one, SELinux is open-source so the community can be assured there are no NSA backdoors in the code. No such verification is possible with M$ and its closed code. You just have to take their word for it.

Microsoft today denied that it has built a backdoor into Windows 7, a concern that surfaced yesterday after a senior National Security Agency (NSA) official testified before Congress that the agency had worked on the operating system.

"Microsoft has not and will not put 'backdoors' into Windows," a company spokeswoman said, reacting to a Computerworld story Wednesday.

On Monday, Richard Schaeffer, the NSA's information assurance director, told the Senate's Subcommittee on Terrorism and Homeland Security that the agency had partnered with the developer during the creation of Windows 7 "to enhance Microsoft's operating system security guide."

Echoing earlier concerns, Marc Rotenberg, the executive director of the Electronics Privacy Information Center (EPIC), questioned the wisdom of letting the NSA participate in OS development. "The key problem is that NSA has a dual mission, COMPUSEC, computer security, now called cyber security, and SIGINT, signals intelligence, in other words surveillance," Rotenberg said in an e-mail.

Yesterday, he raised the issue, which isn't new, of whether the NSA pressures companies like Microsoft to craft so-called "backdoors" into their code that would let the agency track users and intercept users' communications. Rotenberg called it an "obvious concern," and added that it might be difficult for major software makers to turn down NSA "suggestions" because the U.S. federal government is an important customer.

Today's categorical denial by Microsoft was accompanied by further explanation of exactly how the NSA participated in the making of Windows 7. "The work being discussed here is purely in conjunction with our Security Compliance Management Toolkit," said the spokeswoman.

Microsoft's rejection of the idea that it's hidden a backdoor in Windows came as no surprise to security researchers, who yesterday expressed doubt that the company would put its reputation at such risk. "I can't imagine NSA and Microsoft would do anything deliberate, because the repercussions would be enormous if they got caught," Roger Thompson, the chief research officer of antivirus vendor AVG Technologies, said yesterday.

John Pescatore, an analyst with Gartner Research, agreed. "[The concerns] are way overstated," he said today in an e-mail. "NSA worked with Microsoft and others, like Cisco, on security configuration standards for [their] products."

Rotenberg still questioned NSA involvement. "The key point is that the NSA is not the right agency to promote computer security in the private sector," he argued. "The risks to end users are real -- the original NSA key escrow proposal, 'Clipper,' was a terrible idea -- and there is too little transparency about these arrangements."

The Clipper chip Rotenberg referred to was a project first proposed in 1993 that would offer ultra-strong encryption, but would allow access to encrypted data by law enforcement. The NSA proposal, however, raised a firestorm of protest and the idea was ultimately dropped.

said by Woody79_00:

Another reason to use Linux I say

said by Dude111:

Windows 7 probably has all kinds of spyware communicating with Microsoft. ITS THE WORST OS FOR PRIVACY!! (Even if doing nothing wrong,PRIVACY SHOULD BE YOURS ON YOUR COMPUTER!)

said by Shomari:

»news.softpedia.com/news/Windows-···26.shtml

In addition, it appears that the National Security Agency helped the software giant

said by KodiacZiller:

No, it ported its "FLASK" MAC/MLS architecture to Linux so that development of the system could continue in the public domain. This was done back in 2000 and is now called SELinux. Red Hat has been enabling a SELinux profile by default for a number of years now.

SELinux is not a distro -- it's a kernel patch. And it is a different animal from what M$ has been doing. For one, SELinux is open-source so the community can be assured there are no NSA backdoors in the code. No such verification is possible with M$ and its closed code. You just have to take their word for it.

said by rawwhide:

I bet they helped Microsoft alright! Helped make sure there was a backdoor.