NSA has direct access to tech giants' systems for user data, secret files reveal

Whistleblower Award 2013 to Edward Snowden:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cW8lRCqYI6U&feature=share&list=PLJ5zWqfxh29MuOFucYbJP_0sGz5ertLw3

 

Slavoj Žižek has joined the debate:

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/sep/03/snowden-manning-assange-new-heroes

 

http://en.rsf.org/european-union-massive-eavesdropping-in-europe-29-08-2013,45118.html

http://assembly.coe.int/ASP/XRef/X2H-DW-XSL.asp?fileid=20050&lang=EN

 

NSA Laughs at PCs, Prefers Hacking Routers and Switches.

-- Tom

 

How Advanced Is the NSA’s Cryptanalysis — And Can We Resist It? by Bruce Schneier.

-- Tom

 

You know, when ex NSA heads and the freakin guy that not only authored but pushed reauthorizations of the Patriot Act are saying the NSA and government have lost their minds (though the NSA chief is a bit more tolerant), that should speak volumes:

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/...lk-data-collection-is-unbounded-in-its-scope/

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/aug/30/nsa-surveillance-framework-nsa-chief

 

Hundreds of Pages of NSA Spying Documents to be Released As Result of EFF Lawsuit.

-- Tom

 

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/sep/05/nsa-gchq-encryption-codes-security

 

US and UK spy agencies defeat privacy and security on the internet

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/sep/05/nsa-gchq-encryption-codes-security

• NSA and GCHQ unlock encryption used to protect emails, banking and medical records
• $250m-a-year US program works covertly with tech companies to insert weaknesses into products
• Security experts say programs 'undermine the fabric of the internet'

US and British intelligence agencies have successfully cracked much of the online encryption relied upon by hundreds of millions of people to protect the privacy of their personal data, online transactions and emails, according to top-secret documents revealed by former contractor Edward Snowden.

 

Re: US and UK spy agencies defeat privacy and security on the internet

WHERE'S THE OUTRAGE ??

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/06/us/nsa-foils-much-internet-encryption.html

Here's another source for the times story that does not require registration :

Revealed: The NSA’s Secret Campaign to Crack, Undermine Internet Security

http://www.propublica.org/article/the-nsas-secret-campaign-to-crack-undermine-internet-encryption

 

After reading the recently-cited articles in the Guardian, New York Times and Pro Publica, I remain fairly confident in the integrity of open-source crypto. The articles focus on commercial providers. Even the comments about VPNs seem restricted to corporate connections. And generally, the vulnerabilities discussed involve gaining access to key material, not breaking encryption algorithms.

Even so, this underlines the importance of avoiding providers operating in the US sphere of influence. It also underlines the importance of using multiple encryption layers, and choosing VPN etc providers operating in multiple spheres of influence.

It seems like the time has come to get serious about spreading information on using Mixmaster remailer nyms. But that must wait until the Tor Project figures out how to serve (or exclude) its ~5e+6 new clients from the Sefnit botnet

 

How to remain secure against NSA surveillance

How to remain secure against NSA surveillance by Bruce Schneier, Thursday 5 September 2013 15.06 EDT

-- Tom

 

Re: How to remain secure against NSA surveillance

Thanks. That's really good advice (of course).

I have one minor suggestion:

Small USB sticks or micro flash chips are very inexpensive in volume. So it's safest to use them only from the secure computer to the Internet computer, and just use them once, destroying them after they've been connected to the Internet computer. That protects the secure computer from the Internet computer.

 

N.S.A. Foils Much Internet Encryption

*Expletives removed* Now I'll be wondering if programs I use have NSA backdoors in them, or if any encrypted files I have are really secure:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/06/us/nsa-foils-much-internet-encryption.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

 

Re: N.S.A. Foils Much Internet Encryption

I would not trust anything done in Windows or OS X, or more generally, anything that involves a corporation with substantive presence in US-friendly countries.

The safest bet is open-source software.

 

Re: How to remain secure against NSA surveillance

-http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/sep/05/government-betrayed-internet-nsa-spying

 

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/sep/05/nsa-how-to-remain-secure-surveillance

 

Backdoors in Routers/Encryption/VPN's & "Security" software, & designed in Vulnerabilities in equipment/software ! Surely not ?

The above have been speculated & discussed on here Many times over the years, with no firm comclusion, until now. Numbers of people used to accuse others, & myself, of being paranoid etc. But quite a few of us had a Strong suspicion & intuition that, not only was it possible, but it was happening. Therefore we took whatever measures we could to lockdown our comps etc, & secure them as best we could.

Well i'm glad the truth is out there at Long last ! We now know that Lots of vendors etc have been deceiving their customers, in various ways for years, & why, & will continue to do so.

As more & more people around the world get exposed to these revelations, the more the bottom line of these companies involved will suffer, & rightly so.

Funny how the truth always has a habit of coming out, sooner ot later

 

CloneRanger

well said and those that were here when I left will understand what you just said. ;-) and you know what, i am not so sure yet much has changed. I am just looking over posts from before snowden to after for now.
oh yea , nothing like another war to through the public and other countries off the sent of what they have and are doing. good solid few weeks of being glued to the tube and forgetting other things. Maybe the senate will vote against it.

I hope wilders does now understand how politics does play a big roll in our privacy and safety. As Bruce mentioned.
If the Gov can exploit their back doors, so can others. Is that kind of like a Pandora box ? hehe

 

From the Bitlocker Wikipedia page, we can all be absolutely sure now this is an invalid statement:
According to Microsoft sources,[18][19] BitLocker does not contain an intentionally built-in backdoor; there is no way for law enforcement to have a guaranteed passage to the data on the user's drives that is provided by Microsoft.

Every Microsoft product and every closed source encryption product is proven unsafe from now on.

 

The NSA's Cryptographic Capabilities by Bruce Schneier, September 6, 2013.

-- Tom

 

Disagreeing with Bruce Schneier: More Crypto is Not the Answer.

Note: This article is a response to the article referenced in message #562 above on this webpage.

-- Tom

 

Claims regarding backdoors in encryption software go way back, well before 9/11. It was claimed that one was discovered in PGP when versions 5 and 6 were current, and was removed from the unofficial CKT versions. At the time, the CKT versions had more features, included PGP disk, and could use much larger keys, up to 8192 bits. It was also made compatible with XP. Unlike PGP 7 at the time, the source code was available. The only argument they could come up with against the CKT versions was that it was an unofficial release, which supposedly made it untrustworthy. It's interesting to look back at pages from that time and see how many of those involved with PGP had keys made with the CKT versions. The recent leaks indicate that the suspicion that they tried to create around the CKT versions should have been directed at the official version.

 

NSA Foils Internet Encryption

http://www.twincities.com/national/ci_24028515/nsa-foils-much-internet-encryption


"The National Security Agency is winning its long-running secret war on encryption, using supercomputers, technical trickery, court orders and behind-the-scenes persuasion to undermine the major tools protecting the privacy of everyday communications in the Internet age, according to newly disclosed documents."

 

Re: NSA Foils Internet Encryption

Anyone else finding Bruce Schneier's site impossible to reach?