Posted on 06/22/2015 7:33:22 AM PDT by rickyrikardo
The National Security Agency and its British counterpart, Government Communications Headquarters, have worked to subvert anti-virus and other security software in order to track users and infiltrate networks, according to documents from NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden.
The spy agencies have reverse engineered software products, sometimes under questionable legal authority, and monitored web and email traffic in order to discreetly thwart anti-virus software and obtain intelligence from companies about security software and users of such software. One security software maker repeatedly singled out in the documents is Moscow-based Kaspersky Lab, which has a holding registered in the U.K., claims more than 270,000 corporate clients, and says it protects more than 400 million people with its products.
British spies aimed to thwart Kaspersky software in part through a technique known as software reverse engineering, or SRE, according to a top-secret warrant renewal request. The NSA has also studied Kaspersky Labs software for weaknesses, obtaining sensitive customer information by monitoring communications between the software and Kaspersky servers, according to a draft top-secret report. The U.S. spy agency also appears to have examined emails inbound to security software companies flagging new viruses and vulnerabilities.
The efforts to compromise security software were of particular importance because such software is relied upon to defend against an array of digital threats and is typically more trusted by the operating system than other applications, running with elevated privileges that allow more vectors for surveillance and attack. Spy agencies seem to be engaged in a digital game of cat and mouse with anti-virus software companies; the U.S. and U.K. have aggressively probed for weaknesses in software deployed by the companies, which have themselves exposed sophisticated state-sponsored malware.
(Excerpt) Read more at firstlook.org ...
There are laws regarding intellectual property, corporate property, and proprietary tech.
Nice try pal.
Government is not exempt from the law.
If they were, laws would be rendered null and void.
Don’t expect any answer from DD.
He is busy focusing on myself and hoosierham.
And he keeps trying to excuse domestic spying.
B T T T
And let’s not forget that the FBI has a program that was called Magic Lantern that was revealed back in 2001.
http://www.cnet.com/news/feds-use-keylogger-to-thwart-pgp-hushmail/
It was developed during the Clinton years, during the same crap as Carnivore and Echelon.
You remember THOSE, don’t you?
Putting tape on my webcams BUMP!
And if you have Google Chrome, Chrome has been activating microphones..
..nobody knows why.
http://www.sfgate.com/business/article/Network-Associates-mired-in-security-debate-FBI-2848849.php
Yet another article about Magic Lantern, this one from November 2001.
“Government Control Over the Anti-Virus Industry?
In November, it became known that the FBI had developed a Trojan program for the tracking of suspects. This “classic” Trojan, christened Magic Lantern, intercepts all keystrokes a suspect makes, copying them to a secret file. Later, the received data can be used to decode and decrypt sent e-mail and provide evidence against said suspect or suspects.
On December 3, Paul Bresson, spokesman for the FBI, during an interview with the magazine Information Security, confirmed the development of the Magic Lantern Trojan. However, at the behest of the US government (or at least the strong “suggestion”), will anti-virus developers not include means for detecting such a Trojan in their software? McAfee and Symantec have already confirmed that they won’t include detection measures for Magic Lantern - is this the beginning of a user exodus to other anti-virus products?
This type of move by the US government could be precedent setting. Theoretically, should this happen, other countries’ governments could make similar demands of other anti-virus companies to not include means for detecting similar governmental spying Trojans. In this case, anti-virus security could completely get out of control. And sooner or later, as always happens, the original Magic Lantern could fall into the hands of malefactors, whose goal would be to use this program for their own ends. As a result, the world economy, heavily dependent on IT, could be paralyzed by a worldwide virus epidemic. “
http://www.kaspersky.com/about/news/virus/2001/2001_The_Year_in_Review
http://www.kaspersky.com/about/news/virus/2001/The_FBI_s_Magic_Lantern_Shines_Bright
“NSA is conducting spying operations within the US (contrary to US law, BTW).”
NSA is mining traffic “bounced” through overseas network nodes so the data becomes “international” rather than “domestic” and is now legally subject to monitoring.
“If NSA was really looking for terrorists they would have stopped Tsarneav.”
NSA claims to be really looking for terrorists, but that doesn’t actually even matter, because their monitoring program captures such a monumental amount of data that there is no possible way to sift through it all quickly enough to flag traffic like that; not even using computers.
“NSA did not catch Tsarneav because they are under orders not to spy on muslims.”
No. NSA didn’t catch Tsarnaev because their monitoring system is utterly untenable; like trying to drink from a fire hose (more like Niagara Falls, actually). NSA cannot manage the volume of data they’re getting; they don’t even know, in real time, whether any of that data is from Muslims, or not; they’re just scooping up everything with the largest net possible. They’re not specifically watching anyone; they’re unspecifically — and highly objectionably — watching everyone, which means they’re astronomically unlikely to notice anything important in time to do anything about it unless by complete accident, and that equates to the whole program being a dismal failure unworthy of continuing either funding or staffing.
The program is indefensible and has to stop.
Your point is moot when they ARE using the "tools" against citizens.
Secretive court rules NSA can keep collecting phone records - January 3, 2014, 11:12 PM
A secretive U.S. spy court has ruled again that the National Security Agency can keep collecting every American's telephone records every day, in the midst of dueling decisions in two other federal courts about whether the surveillance program is constitutional.
I’ve not asked whether the spy agencies should tap the phones of citizens. My question, which is pertinent to this article, is whether spy agencies should be prohibited from building tools to tap terrorists if the same tools could be used to tap citizens?
This is a simple ‘Yes or No’ question and whether the agencies are currently tapping citizens does not render the question “Moot”.
No, you’ve excused it, played hypothetical games, and not once have you accepted that the program is onnits face a useless failure.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3302828/posts?page=5#5
Any legitimacy to their base job is immediately lost upon spying on us, your premise in post five is false.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3302828/posts?page=12#12
Then you go off and try excusing it.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3302828/posts?page=14#14
Here you go off into hypothetical BS.
“What if several terrorists are using email to coordinate an attack. Suppose some of their email is routed through a server in the US. Can NSA intercept this email?”
They did, and continue to do so.
NSA isn’t catching them, they are busy spying on us.
How hard is that to u derstand?
Or do you honestly believe a government that spies on you has your best intentions at heart?
You seriously see nothing wrong with this in any way?
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3304016/posts
Here Doug.
Tell me that sort of thing, related by the way, is okay?
Any alphabet agency has the potential to misuse their tools, and if they do they must be held accountable, but that doesn't mean they shouldn't have the tools.
Point out for me where it was said that we shouldn’t have the tools.
What HAS been stated, again and again, is the illegal mass warrantless spying on citizens must stop, and the program currently in use that has repeatedly been shown to be useless at stopping bad guys must be scrapped.
If a tool is useless for the task it is stated to be used for, you don’t keep using it, do you?
You said: do you think NSA should be banned from tapping phones in Iran if the same technology could be used to tap a phone in Cleveland?
I said: Your point is moot when they ARE using the "tools" against citizens.
Oh and, French Presidents. Oops! Can't forget the Germans! However muslims appear to be safe.
Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is argument of tyrants. It is the creed of slaves. William Pitt
Shown where? By whom? Absence of evidence isn't evidence of absence.
As I said, if agencies are abusing the constitution they should be held accountable. I don't consider building a database of phone billing data to be abuse, but if you can show that they actually used this data to surveil a citizen without a warrant then someone should go to jail.
Dzhokar Tsarneav and his brother used cellphones and Facebook exclusively.
But they were caught beforehand, right?
And zero attacks have been stopped.
The freaky foot bomber was stopped by passengers.
This illegal warrantless spying on Americans must stop.
Do you seriously believe a government that targets political opposition via IRS harassment isn’t targeting political opposition via this?
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