Bonum Certa Men Certa

Cablegate Reveals Government Requesting Access to Microsoft Data, Kill Switches

White House



Summary: Despite the fact that only a fraction of Cablegate has yet been released, new evidence already surfaces about the US government's concern (and role) in the seemingly-private computer industry

"Cablegate" is one of the reasons we have not posted so much this month. Personally I have posted over a thousand links/dents about it in the past week alone. The threat to Wikileaks is a threat to all of us who leak documents that serve as evidence of misconduct. Techrights did this many times before, so it's important to defend the practice.



One of the most major (and first) revelations coming out of Cablegate is to do with fear of Iran's nuclear programme. Given what can be found in Cablegate (not to mention brutal retaliation against Wikileaks), it is clear that the US government goes very far to get its way. Earlier this year we covered Stuxnet on many occasions as people raised suspicions that Stuxnet had something to do with governments and secret services. Experts who suggested this were not obscure people; some were well regarded in their field. As a roundup of Stuxnet posts consider:

  1. Ralph Langner Says Windows Malware Possibly Designed to Derail Iran's Nuclear Programme
  2. Windows Viruses Can be Politically Motivated Sometimes
  3. Who Needs Windows Back Doors When It's So Insecure?
  4. Windows Insecurity Becomes a Political Issue
  5. Windows, Stuxnet, and Public Stoning
  6. Stuxnet Grows Beyond Siemens-Windows Infections
  7. Has BP Already Abandoned Windows?
  8. Reports: Apple to Charge for (Security) Updates
  9. Windows Viruses Can be Politically Motivated Sometimes
  10. New Flaw in Windows Facilitates More DDOS Attacks
  11. Siemens is Bad for Industry, Partly Due to Microsoft
  12. Microsoft Security Issues in The British Press, Vista and Vista 7 No Panacea
  13. Microsoft's Negligence in Patching (Worst Amongst All Companies) to Blame for Stuxnet
  14. Microsoft Software: a Darwin Test for Incompetence
  15. Bad September for Microsoft Security, Symantec Buyout Rumours
  16. Microsoft Claims Credit for Failing in Security
  17. Many Windows Servers Being Abandoned; Minnesota Goes the Opposite Direction by Giving Microsoft Its Data
  18. Windows Users Still Under Attack From Stuxnet, Halo, and Zeus
  19. Security Propaganda From Microsoft: Villains Become Heroes
  20. Security Problems in iOS and Windows
  21. Eye on Security: BBC Propaganda, Rootkits, and Stuxnet in Iran's Nuclear Facilities
  22. Eye on Security: ClamAV Says Windows is a Virus, Microsoft Compromises Mac OS X, and Stuxnet Runs Wild
  23. Windows Kernel Vulnerability for Thanksgiving, Insecurity Used for Surveillance Again


"Stuxnet Still Out of Control At Iran Nuclear Sites" summarises Slashdot which says:

"Iran's nuclear program is still in chaos despite its leaders' adamant claim that they have contained the computer worm that attacked their facilities, cybersecurity experts in the US and Europe say. Last week President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, after months of denials, admitted that the worm had penetrated Iran's nuclear sites, but he said it was detected and controlled. The second part of that claim, experts say, doesn't ring true. Owners of several security sites have discovered huge bumps in traffic from Iran, as the country tries to deal with Stuxnet. 'Our traffic from Iran has really spiked,' said a corporate officer who asked that neither he nor his company be named. 'Iran now represents 14.9 percent of total traffic, surpassing the United States with a total of 12.1 percent.'"


The original article comes from The Atlantic and says that "Stuxnet Disrupted Iranian Centrifuges":

Malicious software apparently designed to disrupt the Iranian nuclear program was able to do just that, Iran's president acknowledged today. Security researchers found that the Stuxnet worm could insinuate itself into industrial control systems -- and if it found a particular brand and arrangement of motor controllers would begin a long-term sabotage program. Now, in the wake of the apparent assassination of an Iranian nuclear scientist, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad acknowledged that Stuxnet did hit his country's centrifuge facility, though he downplayed its impact.


Techrights does not deal directly with politics, so staying more focused on technical aspects of this, what are the chances of targeted attacks? This needn't imply that Stuxnet was created by governments as some people allege. Either way, in the wake of Cablegate, it is unreasonable to rule out anything for which there is evidence.

In a new cable which goes back to 2004 it emerges that Microsoft produced code which would put a "black screen" on any computer running Windows upon some trigger invocation (e.g. war, not just counterfeiting). Some would call it a "kill switch". What's interesting here is that it took years for people to actually discover what black screens of death truly are. That's how secretive it was. This enabled control from the outside. To quote a relevant part of this newly-released cable:

WHAT'S DRIVING CHINA -------------------- €¶8. (C) According to another well-respected tech sector analyst here, a number of historical, cultural, and technological factors have coalesced to put China in a technologically-aggressive state-of-mind. One contributing factor was Microsoft's flubbed 2004 strategy to deter intellectual property theft by darkening computer monitors running unlicensed Windows operating software. This consultant believes that example of U.S. technology effectively wielding power over China's personal computers helped spur China's aggressive campaign for source codes and its own technology. This, combined with growing Chinese pride, economic clout and influence, and the "weakened" position of the U.S. and its allies after the global economic downturn, are emboldening the Chinese to take ever more aggressive positions in advancing its innovative industries at the expense of foreign ones.

€¶9. (C) A local Microsoft executive applauds the Secretary's speech and the Administration's commitment "to organize sustained, targeted, persistent engagement on the full range of Internet-related issues" with China. This executive said the Secretary's remarks were "right on point," particularly for companies who "desperately need the help of the USG" in the face of "harassment, threats and actual shutdowns of service, threats of licenses being revoked, resistance to provide legal authority, mandates to place servers in China, etc." Our local APCO contact described the Google issue as a "stirring of the beehive," but says the kind of harassment Microsoft describes is a fact of worsening life here which


But wait. It gets worse. Not only remote control of people's machines (in another country) is a feature to the US government and other governments. They also gather people's data as this other new cable reveals:

€¶12. (U) Assisting Brazil in creating legislation to counter cybercrimes, including online child pornography and tracking of sex offenders, represents another potential area of cooperation on law enforcement matters. Brazil lacks cybercrime laws and the Congress has opened a Parliamentary Committee of Inquiry (CPI) to look at the issue and come up with draft legislation. As part of the CPI's work, the CPI was able to obtain over 3,000 Google records of identified child pornography that had been distributed on the Internet from Brazil. The chairman of the CPI has voiced his concern about, in his view, inadequate cooperation from Google and its subsidiary Orkut, a relationship site. Google, Orkut, Microsoft, and all other Internet service providers are required to report the discovery of child pornography on the Internet and DHS/ICE has established a mechanism to have access to this information which has been reported. DHS/ICE has already initiated the practice of sharing this information with Brazilian Federal Police. Related to the CPI, its Chairman has made inquiries to the Mission on the case of DHS/ICE Deportation officer accused of child exploitation at a hotel in Brazil. The U.S. is seeking the toughest penalty possible, whether in Brazil or the U.S., and is fully cooperating with Brazilian authorities.


Only about 0.5% of the cables have been released so far, so there is a lot more coming, also about companies like Microsoft. Microsoft's eGovernment lobbyist Anke Domscheit-Berg has praised Wikileaks, but that was before Cablegate, i.e. when mostly information about crimes and wars was released.

The cables above ought to teach why Free software is essential to people's independence and countries' autonomy. By controlling information and software one controls almost everything and the latest developments around ACTA, TSA, and COICA law show that the government wants more control over people. It will change the law if necessary, in order to ensure continued domination over an increasingly upset population.

Access to personal data and 'jailing' of people inside devices is a threat to the hacker culture (which Wikileaks thrives in) and even just to control over one's life. In separate news, "Apple quietly drops iOS jailbreak detection API" and Google's Chrome OS seems like somewhat of a jail rather than a GNU/Linux distribution. About Apple we learn that:

Apple has disabled, without explanation, a jailbreak detection API in iOS less than six months after introducing it. Device management vendors say the reasons for the decision are a mystery, but insist they can use alternatives to discover if an iPhone, iPod touch or iPad has been modified so they can load and modify applications outside of Apple's iTunes-based App Store.


Nobody should need to 'jailbreak' a device in the first place.

Software freedom is not just about power (to the user). It's about control of one's own destiny and if society is indeed closing down and repressing the population, then now more than ever people and their governments should migrate away from proprietary software.

Recent Techrights' Posts

Linux is Already Dominant (Android), Let's Make GNU/Linux Dominant in Desktops/Laptops as Well
"Dr. Stallman recently warned everybody about Microsoft."
 
Say the Truth, the Rest Will Follow
There's no guarantee that writing the truth will result in an audience (or readership), but over time - in the long run - people generally gravitate towards what they know or feel to be crude truth, not just what's comforting (albeit false or self-deluding, usually groupthink dictated from above)
How to Expose High-Level Corruption Without Getting in (Too Much) Trouble
Democracy depends on free press and freedom of the press depends on being able to safely publish (and keep available) material that bad people don't want to be known to anybody
In-Depth EPO Coverage at Techrights Turns Eleven
11 years is a very long time
Windows Measured Below 10% in Afghanistan, GNU/Linux Gaining a Lot
about 80% are Android (Linux) users, compared to only about 10% for Windows
Poland's Political Predicament and Social Control Media
Democracy and fake "tech" don't mix well; the latter tends to interfere with the former and that's why we get more "Putins" out there
EPO: Taking Away From the Staff to Give More to the Rich
The Central Staff Committee (CSC) wrote to EPO staff earlier this week
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, June 03, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, June 03, 2025
Abuse Inside the Polish Patent Office (UPRP) - Part I: It's a Lot Like the EPO
we can commence a series soon
Gemini Links 04/06/2025: Inescapable Questions and Quitting All "Oligarch Tech"
Links for the day
Slopwatch: Linux FUD From Slopfarms, Blaming Linux for Microsoft Issues; Even WebProNews Has Become a Slopfarm (Googlebombing "Linux" With Slop Images and Fake/Plagiarised Text)
The Web is really getting bad; it's also overwhelmed by fake material or plagiarised material, wherein the plagiarism gets disguised/hidden by LLM sausage factories
Links 03/06/2025: Tiananmen Square Massacre Censorship and Growing Military Activities Around Taiwan
Links for the day
The Loyalty to Microsoft and the Salaries From Microsoft (Funding SLAPPs Against Techrights and Tux Machines)
Garrett always knows better. He knows everything best.
Windows Falls in Italy as GNU/Linux Jumps to 5%
Italy knows a thing or two about digital autonomy
Nigeria is All Android and Google
Windows down to almost nothing in Africa's largest population
Mass Layoffs at Microsoft (Second Wave) Not Limited to Redmond
"More layoffs at Microsoft as axe falls in Washington and California"
Gemini Links 03/06/2025: Forth System and "Common Lisp is a Dumpster"
Links for the day
The Leaks Were Right: Mass Layoffs at Microsoft in May, Then Another Wave in June
Just as we've been saying for over a month
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, June 02, 2025
IRC logs for Monday, June 02, 2025
Last Article From Australia's Sam Varghese Was a Year Ago and It Covered the Release of Julian Assange, Who Will Apparently Come Back as 'Politician'
It'll soon be exactly 12 months
Hungary Seems Hungry for Linux
Windows down by a lot
Like in Europe, Bad News for Microsoft in US and Canada
If it loses those "regions", then what's left?
About 8 Waves of Mass Layoffs at Microsoft in 2025 (in Less Than 5 Months), Now Vista 11 "Market Share" Decreases
Really bad news for shareholders of Microsoft
statCounter Sees Bing "Share" Falling Over 0.5% in One Month, Now Lower Than Before the ChatGPT/Bing Chat Hype
Bing has been part of the mass layoffs for quite some time
After Microsoft's Bankruptcy in Russia Android (Linux) Will Dominate Asia Completely
Windows probably peaked in "XP" or "2000"
Microsoft's Demise is a Global Phenomenon
mass layoffs justified using mindless buzzwords
All-Time Highs for GNU/Linux in EU and the UK, All-Time Lows for Microsoft
Combining ChromeOS and GNU/Linux, it adds up to and almost reaches 6%
India: Windows Falls to 50% in Desktops/Laptops and 8% Overall
laptops/desktops fell to 16% of the whole
statCounter: GNU/Linux Up to 4.7% "Market Share" This Month
30,000 Microsoft jobs may be eliminated by year's end
Microsoft is in Trouble and Microsofters Know It
"I've been happy on Win 3.11 for years."
[Video] New Introduction to Richard Stallman's Contributions Including GNU Emacs, GNU/Linux, and Software Freedom
from the channel previously bullied for supporting RMS
Links 02/06/2025: South Korea to Vote, Russia Blitzed From Within
Links for the day
Links 02/06/2025: Political Leftovers, DRM, and Patents
Links for the day
Links 02/06/2025: Microsoft Spins Layoffs as "Slop", Frontier Settles Lawsuit
Links for the day
When You Publicly Boast About Wanting to Violently Attack People (Even Colleagues) Finding a Job Will Prove Difficult
there's a lesson to be learned here
The Web We Lost, the Information Lost Due to Microsoft's Attacks on Companies Like Yahoo! (Before the LLM Slop Frenzy)
When it comes to news sites, what can we say?
Covering Corruption in Poland, Including a War on Science (Due to Bad Politicians)
What we're about to show is that skilled and experienced scientists in Poland are besieged by bureaucrats
Gemini Links 02/06/2025: "Star Wars Day" and "Security Day"
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, June 01, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, June 01, 2025