Vista SP1 Has NSA Backdoor?

[Rob2687]

We've all been genetically marked with every vaccination anyways.

[raskren]

Because the NSA should have no special ability to get into systems, especially for non-US citizens. If this is true then it's yet another case of the US thinking it is superior to the rest of the world. I have more faith in China having access to my personal information than I do the US, which only goes to show how poorly I rate the US government / government agencies.

Just skill and talent. No magic though.

[Impact]

I agree that the US shouldn't hold the keys to Non-US consumers machines and any machines for that matter, but I don't think there's any way that I would allow China to have a single bit of my information, whereas I might cautiously give some personal information to the US government willingly.

[Mathiasdm]

And by the way I would think that this "backdoor" would be slammed shut with a hardware firewall or 2. :huh:

This is not a backdoor that would allow one to break into your computer. If somebody can predict the random numbers generated, they could decrypt information you encrypt using the random number generator. In other words: they could read any information you send over the internet (including the information you wish to keep private). A hardware firewall wouldn't change anything about that.

[xinary]

America is slowly turning to China one day at a time :(

[Thrawn]

Yeah, as far as I can tell, there is no evidence that Vista uses this standard. Most sources only mention the NSA standard, the the critisism it received. The source article provides no evidence that its connected to Vista in any way. I think this is junk news.

[4CxbqFxVnstmA Veteran]

It is interesting to note that the NSA offer a Security Enhanced Linux distro of their own which is (1) highly secure, (2) free (of course) and (3) presumably has no backdoors (source code is freely available too, of course).

This does not of course mean that they don't have backdoors left right and centre in closed source things like Windows. :shiftyninja:

[htwho]

Someone ordered too many tin foil hats.

+1

[theyarecomingforyou]

Too many tin foil hats? When the US uses razor blades on people's genitals in Guantanamo Bay I have absolutely no doubt that the NSA would do this sort of thing... whether they actually have included a backdoor is another matter.

[itsnotabigtruck]

This isn't a Vista issue, it's an issue with the elliptic curve standard. This story came out, minus the sensationalism, months ago

Also, this isn't an issue about Microsoft (or anybody else) giving "keys" to the NSA. It's a random number generator, so it's not supposed to even have a key. The issue is that the NSA might have changed the elliptic curve referenced in the name in order to make it more predictable and easier to crack.

[primexx]

Because the NSA should have no special ability to get into systems, especially for non-US citizens. If this is true then it's yet another case of the US thinking it is superior to the rest of the world. I have more faith in China having access to my personal information than I do the US, which only goes to show how poorly I rate the US government / government agencies.

In terms of privacy, China's definitely not better than the US, at least not yet. At most they're about the same.

This isn't a Vista issue, it's an issue with the elliptic curve standard. This story came out, minus the sensationalism, months ago

Also, this isn't an issue about Microsoft (or anybody else) giving "keys" to the NSA. It's a random number generator, so it's not supposed to even have a key. The issue is that the NSA might have changed the elliptic curve referenced in the name in order to make it more predictable and easier to crack.

Yea I heard about that too, the new standards are pretty pathetic. Hopefully if windows does use it we'll be able to patch it to another generator.

[somethingthatrhymes]

Security Enhanced Linux

Damn, you'd think that being the NSA, they'd be able to create a website that doesn't look like ass.

[guru]

This isn't a Vista issue, it's an issue with the elliptic curve standard. This story came out, minus the sensationalism, months ago

but, you gotta have an article that bashes Vista everyday :rolleyes:

[DreadBoat89]

I have more faith in China having access to my personal information than I do the US, which only goes to show how poorly I rate the US government / government agencies.

hahaha you're kidding right?

[Eric Veteran]

The NSA is an USA agency (or whatever) while Windows is distributed worldwide. Does it really still not matter?

No, it still doesn't. If you live in the EU, don't think the NSA won't make a phone call and have your PC inspected anyway. :)

[SacrificialSoldier]

Damn, you'd think that being the NSA, they'd be able to create a website that doesn't look like ass.

+1! :x

[ichi]

No, it still doesn't. If you live in the EU, don't think the NSA won't make a phone call and have your PC inspected anyway. :)

They'd have to go through my country's authorities, who might either agree or politely tell them to f*ck off depending on the reasons and proof.

And then again you are just considering MY computer, government computers would obviously not be handed to the NSA no matter how kindly they ask.

So yes, it still does matter.