How To Destroy An Industry
by Karl Denninger
2013-12-29 14:38
Just make sure you put back doors in virtually everything American technology companies produce -- an act of insane hubris -- and watch the customers flee.
The ANT division doesn't just manufacture surveillance hardware. It also develops software for special tasks. The ANT developers have a clear preference for planting their malicious code in so-called BIOS, software located on a computer's motherboard that is the first thing to load when a computer is turned on.
This has a number of valuable advantages: an infected PC or server appears to be functioning normally, so the infection remains invisible to virus protection and other security programs. And even if the hard drive of an infected computer has been completely erased and a new operating system is installed, the ANT malware can continue to function and ensures that new spyware can once again be loaded onto what is presumed to be a clean computer . The ANT developers call this "Persistence" and believe this approach has provided them with the possibility of permanent access.
Another program attacks the firmware in hard drives manufactured by Western Digital, Seagate, Maxtor and Samsung, all of which, with the exception of latter, are American companies. Here, too, it appears the US intelligence agency is compromising the technology and products of American companies.
http://tinyurl.com/qa9vwzm
The stupidity of such a program knows no boundaries.
The ultimate premise -- that nobody other than the NSA will ever obtain the keys necessary to access these defective locks they install -- is the height of arrogance.
How much of what the Chinese and others have stolen over the years were taken using our very own back doors ?
Nobody knows, of course, and if the NSA knows they sure as hell won't be telling anyone. But we do know that the Chinese, for example, have stolen not just commercial secrets but military ones as well -- including nuclear warhead designs .
We didn't, through our own arrogance, make that possible -- did we?
I'm sure we'll never find out with certainty, but this much I am certain of -- we're not the only nation with bright people in it, and if we put intentionally-pickable locks in things we sell we cannot maintain 100% control over the distribution of the back-door keys for said locks.
This sort of crap is one step removed from black-letter treason, and only removed because it's not intended to help our enemies.
But help them it does -- that much you be assured of.
http://market-ticker.org/akcs-www?post=227133
by Karl Denninger
2013-12-29 14:38
Just make sure you put back doors in virtually everything American technology companies produce -- an act of insane hubris -- and watch the customers flee.
The ANT division doesn't just manufacture surveillance hardware. It also develops software for special tasks. The ANT developers have a clear preference for planting their malicious code in so-called BIOS, software located on a computer's motherboard that is the first thing to load when a computer is turned on.
This has a number of valuable advantages: an infected PC or server appears to be functioning normally, so the infection remains invisible to virus protection and other security programs. And even if the hard drive of an infected computer has been completely erased and a new operating system is installed, the ANT malware can continue to function and ensures that new spyware can once again be loaded onto what is presumed to be a clean computer . The ANT developers call this "Persistence" and believe this approach has provided them with the possibility of permanent access.
Another program attacks the firmware in hard drives manufactured by Western Digital, Seagate, Maxtor and Samsung, all of which, with the exception of latter, are American companies. Here, too, it appears the US intelligence agency is compromising the technology and products of American companies.
http://tinyurl.com/qa9vwzm
The stupidity of such a program knows no boundaries.
The ultimate premise -- that nobody other than the NSA will ever obtain the keys necessary to access these defective locks they install -- is the height of arrogance.
How much of what the Chinese and others have stolen over the years were taken using our very own back doors ?
Nobody knows, of course, and if the NSA knows they sure as hell won't be telling anyone. But we do know that the Chinese, for example, have stolen not just commercial secrets but military ones as well -- including nuclear warhead designs .
We didn't, through our own arrogance, make that possible -- did we?
I'm sure we'll never find out with certainty, but this much I am certain of -- we're not the only nation with bright people in it, and if we put intentionally-pickable locks in things we sell we cannot maintain 100% control over the distribution of the back-door keys for said locks.
This sort of crap is one step removed from black-letter treason, and only removed because it's not intended to help our enemies.
But help them it does -- that much you be assured of.
http://market-ticker.org/akcs-www?post=227133
