11.22.13
Gemini version available ♊︎Microsoft Windows is a Trojan Horse for the NSA
Apparatus of espionage and vandalism
TPM module inside a computer
Summary: The NSA may not have managed to persuade Torvalds to put back doors in Linux, but Microsoft is just too eager to put more and more remote controls (UEFI, TPM, zero-day vulnerabilities, etc.) as new releases of Windows arrive
A REASONABLY SHORT WHILE back Kaspersky spoke about issues like the Stuxnet-ready Windows causing disasters in nuclear Russian facilities, not just nuclear Iranian facilities. The Russian press denied it, but based on translations we got shown by readers, this denial was rather weak. Concurrently there was FUD in some media channels trying to blame GNU/Linux for Stuxnet-type issues. Here is an update on this whole misinformation campaign: “Using the International Space Station as an example of an isolated critical infrastructure, Kaspersky pointed out that despite being in space, it is still vulnerable to attack. In fact, on a number of occasions over the years the orbiting outpost’s computers have become infected by malware.
““Scientists, from time to time, are coming to space with USBs which are infected. I’m not kidding,” he said. “I was talking to Russian space guys and they said ‘yes, from time to time there are virus epidemics in the space station.’””
All the above issues are the fault of the NSA-made Microsoft Windows (Microsoft and the NSA work on Windows together) and it should not be shocking that Vista 8 makes things even worse. As Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols put it the other day, “Windows 8 and TMP [are] said to combine to permit NSA spying on our computers” (as expected, but TMP is a typo).
Techrighs wrote a lot about Trusted Platform Module (TPM) in the past. The notion and implementation is being steered and promoted by large companies with software patents and connections to government spies, so we can pretty much guess who it serves. As Vaughan-Nichols puts it: “The Microsoft fan club is up in arms. Those reports about Windows 8 allowing the government to spy on us? Nonsense, they fuss. It’s simply not true that Windows 8 combines with Trusted Platform Module (TPM) to create a built-in back door for surveillance by the National Security Agency (NSA).
“No, no, they whine, the German newspaper Die Zeit had it all wrong when it claimed that the combination of TPM 2.0 and Windows 8.x (German-language article) gives Microsoft complete control over which programs can and can’t run, plus access to Windows BitLocker encryption, and the ability to remotely administer devices beyond a user’s control.”
It is clear, however, what Windows is really for, at least from the NSA’s perspective. It’s a Trojan horse. We should treat it as such. █
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Goblin said,
November 22, 2013 at 11:38 am
Hi Roy! Great to see you bringing to the fore issues which the average user doesn’t consider and a great reference point for me bringing up the subject with people who just see their machine as a tool to access other services. The troubling thing here though is that now the “secret is out” (so to speak) and its hit so many media outlets, we have the NSA in a position of where do they go from here. (same with other intelligence agencies) and the answer is simple – Direct to the ISP’s. Whilst those using GNU/Linux can be rest assured that they have a water tight OS, the issue still remains that should somone have intentions of looking at their data (be it browsing or otherwise) a court order is merely a signature away.
When the “T” word is mentioned they can just about get anything they want and worse, public opinion will be on their side in the main. Proprietary OS’s may have a plethora of back doors built into them without the users knowledge, however an FOSS platform could give users a false sense of privacy when there’s other effective ways to get information.
There comes a time when people have to accept these practices go on. Yes its a massive invasion of privacy, yes its breaching the Human Rights Act (as in right to a private life) but then as we’ve seen on the news the UK government gets its data by proxy (the US) and that removes all these “inconvenient” barriers. Unless people don’t go online at all, I’d argue you can never be sure you have privacy, so then it comes down to a choice..either accept this and have an “online life” or don’t accept it and boycott the net entirely. Its a sad state of affairs, I suppose the only comfort people can have is that they are one of millions so by sheer numbers they have a sort of faux privacy.