NSA recommends users ditch Windows XP

Let's not forget built-in disk imaging.

Although there may be privacy concerns, because of NSA's involvement, I have my doubts.

 

agreed +1

 

http://www.homelandstupidity.us/2007/01/09/nsa-provided-security-help-for-windows-mac-os-x/

The NSA has helped Windows, OS X and Linux (although SElinux is open source, so I doubt that there are any backdoors in there). Last year Google asked help of the NSA (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/03/AR2010020304057.html ). What about Red hat: http://www.h-online.com/open/news/i...-and-Red-Hat-harden-their-systems-863889.html . Are you going to stop using all these products?

And yes, they also helped with Windows XP. I really don't understand all the paranoia going around here. A backdoor will never be used on a large scale since this can be detected. If you are targeted individually , then you are most likely screwed anyway.

 

Sul, I love it...

Aaron

 

They also recommend to use Firefox with NoScript/Chrome with NotScript, DEP for all programs, SSID cloaking, MAC filtering and Full disk encryption and lots more. Are you going to stop using that as well?

And I agree, if you're targeted individually you're screwed anyway.

 

From the first link you posted:

As for the rest of the companies/products listed:
Google, wouldn't use their software at gunpoint. No matter how "secure" it's found to be, Google has zero respect for a users privacy. I don't allow my system to connect to Google without going thru an anonymous proxy or Tor.

OSX. Never used it. Not sure if I've ever seen it.
RedHat. Never used it.

A potential backdoor is just one issue that comes to mind with the NSA, and not the most likely one. When any law enforcement agency can and does seize your computers, with or without probable cause, regardless of whether a computer was involved in an alleged crime, they don't really need a backdoor. They're seized as a matter of routine. The bigger concern would be all the stored user records, something Windows does very well. I'd suspect that their "security improvements" are more for general surveillance and storing "evidence" should they decide to target an individual. Lots of places to hide usage records in multi-gigabyte Vista and Win-7 systems.

Regarding:
"I really don't understand all the paranoia going around here."
How can you look at the current trends and not be concerned about being constantly watched? All of our internet usage, all of our communications, our movements, our medical records, etc. All or most of our user devices tracking us, calling home, storing locations, etc. One or 2 could pass as the actions of greedy companies, but almost all of them? A lot of this is for the benefit of big money, anti-piracy for instance, for the sole purpose of getting every possible dime out of everyone. Every day, more things become illegal. If some greedy corporate trash thinks that you owe them, you may have more to hide than you realize.

 

+1 Outstanding summary!

 

Depends on which version of Win 7 we're talking about..and there are so many.

 

no offense, but you may be too paranoid to have the internet, even using linux your ISP is still going to see everything and ISP logs have been leaked.....

 

All of them has disk imaging. For Vista, it's Business and above.

 

I'll admit to being what most would call paranoid. That said, your statement needs a slight adjustment. Instead of "too paranoid to have the internet...", it should read "too paranoid because of the internet". As for the statement of mine that you quoted, you can look back through these forums and find example after example of every one of the items I mentioned, with links to actual incidents and proof. When the threats are real, it's not paranoia. It's admitting to a very unpleasant reality and doing what you can to take a stand against it.

I realize that most users either don't have the same views as I do, or not to the same degree. I very much distrust MS and have long suspected that there's a partnership between them and the government. I'm at a loss to understand why Microsoft hasn't been split up under anti-trust laws. AT&T was split up for far less influence and anti-trust activity than what MS is doing. I'm convinced that their giant monopoly is allowed to continue because they're giving the government something in return, an OS that spies on its users. IMO, Windows has become spyware in the form of an operating system, a characteristic that has gets worse with each new version. As for Linux, I just don't have the time to start over learning a new OS. For that reason (among others) I stay with the older versions of Windows, ones I've learned to control and modify using tools that have earned my trust. As for the older systems being insecure, that's all relative. None of them have ever been secure "out of the box". Microsoft, the NSA, and individuals can make all kinds of theoretical arguments about why this version is more secure than that one, but in the end it's the one that allows malicious code to execute that gets compromised. If that code can't execute, the type and number of vulnerabilities doesn't matter. For the typical user, the kind that you don't see here who have no desire to learn about how PCs work and what's involved in actually making one secure, the newer systems are more secure "out of the box" as compared to the older ones. But for those who understand their systems, it doesn't apply.

As for what my ISP sees and/or logs, my normal or casual internet usage is nothing I need to keep secret. When I choose to visit, view, or post something that's more controversial or sensitive, I use Tor. All my ISP knows is that I connected to Tor. Where I went from there they have no way of knowing. All that the site knows is that I connected to them from a Tor node.

 

My mistake J-L. That certainly is a plus for Win 7.

 

Indeed

 

It's an old article and I can't judge its merits: http://www.heise.de/tp/artikel/5/5263/1.html

 

@ Fly

RE - ADVAPI.DLL / NSAKEY

Yeah, as in Post # 23 - https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=298489

Still the debate goes on, but the above third key revelations, if nothing else, "supposedly" spooked the MS programmers !