Alert: Microsoft could be teaching police to hack Vista - vnunet.com

Alert: Microsoft could be teaching police to hack Vista - vnunet.com
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Alert: Microsoft could be teaching police to hack Vista - vnunet.com xrayman 03-22-2006
Posted by xrayman on March 22, 2006, 2:22 am
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Microsoft could be teaching police to hack Vista
Redmond in talks with the Home Office

Iain Thomson, vnunet.com

Microsoft may begin training the police in ways to break the encryption
built into its forthcoming Vista operating system.

The news was revealed in a parliamentary committee session in which
Professor Ross Anderson of Cambridge University warned MPs that if such
a move was being considered then the police should start learning
sooner rather than later.

The need to decrypt hard drives was a prominent reason given for
extending the length of time that the police could hold terrorism
suspects.

"It is our goal to give PC users the control and confidence they need
so they can continue to get the most out of their PCs," said a
Microsoft spokeswoman.

"At the same time, we are working with law enforcement to help them
understand its security features and will continue to partner with
governments, law enforcement and industry to help make the internet a
safer place to learn and communicate."

This is not the first time such links between Microsoft and the
security services have received attention. In 1999 journalist Duncan
Campbell alleged that Microsoft had reached a secret deal with the
National Security Agency in the US to allow backdoor access to
Microsoft systems.
http://www.vnunet.com/vnunet/news/2150555/microsoft-teaching-police-hack


Posted by on March 22, 2006, 7:51 am
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Is this really surprising? Governments of this world just want to be
able to decrypt everything whereas companies of this world just want to
make money, which implies they have to please the governments.

This teaches us 2 things however:
1. proprietary security cannot be trusted
2. permitted by law cryptography can be broken

Kind regards
Ludovic Joly


Posted by Adam W. Montville on March 22, 2006, 9:59 am
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lgr_joly@yahoo.com wrote:
> Is this really surprising? Governments of this world just want to be
> able to decrypt everything whereas companies of this world just want to
> make money, which implies they have to please the governments.
>
> This teaches us 2 things however:
> 1. proprietary security cannot be trusted
> 2. permitted by law cryptography can be broken
>
> Kind regards
> Ludovic Joly
>

I suppose that it's not surprising, but I'm still surprised -- if it's
true.

Consider this. If it's true, then there's a back door into an encrypted
file system, and Microsoft would not be able to market it as a
confidential system. They'd be in a bit of a legal spot also.

I think a lot is being read into the statements made by Microsoft and
the fact that they're teaching the "security features" of Vista to law
enforcement.

For what it's worth...

--
*Adam W. Montville, CISSP*
*ICQ: 271-685-874*

Posted by on March 22, 2006, 10:30 am
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> Consider this. If it's true, then there's a back door into an encrypted
> file system, and Microsoft would not be able to market it as a
> confidential system. They'd be in a bit of a legal spot also.

A backdoor can be coded as a security flaw or bug, this makes it
deniable.

Windows is the perfect target for this kind of request by the US
government, because it's an OS, an american product, and the world
leader with a market share of 90%.


Posted by on March 22, 2006, 1:50 pm
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> Microsoft could be teaching police to hack Vista
> Redmond in talks with the Home Office
>
> Iain Thomson, vnunet.com
>
> Microsoft may begin training the police in ways to break the encryption
> built into its forthcoming Vista operating system.
>
> The news was revealed in a parliamentary committee session in which
> Professor Ross Anderson of Cambridge University warned MPs that if such
> a move was being considered then the police should start learning
> sooner rather than later.
>
> The need to decrypt hard drives was a prominent reason given for
> extending the length of time that the police could hold terrorism
> suspects.

i.e. If you encrypt your data with AES256, better not get arrested; you may
end up in prison until they exhaust an expected ((2^256) / 2) keyspace...

Normally, I *would* add a ";)" onto the end of that sentance. But with the
UK government, it's not really a joke...


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