Category: nsa

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Yet Another Russian Hack of the NSA — This Time with Kaspersky’s Help

Posted on By infossl
cyberattack, cyberespionage, hacking, insiders, kaspersky, leaks, nsa, russia, Security technology

The Wall Street Journal has a bombshell of a story. Yet another NSA contractor took classified documents home with him. Yet another Russian intelligence operation stole copies of those documents. The twist this time is that the Russians identified the documents because the contractor had Kaspersky Labs anti-virus installed on his home computer. This is … Read More “Yet Another Russian Hack of the NSA — This Time with Kaspersky’s Help” »

ISO Rejects NSA Encryption Algorithms

Posted on By infossl
backdoors, cryptography, edwardsnowden, encryption, nsa, Security technology, vulnerabilities

The ISO has decided not to approve two NSA-designed block encryption algorithms: Speck and Simon. It’s because the NSA is not trusted to put security ahead of surveillance: A number of them voiced their distrust in emails to one another, seen by Reuters, and in written comments that are part of the process. The suspicions … Read More “ISO Rejects NSA Encryption Algorithms” »

What the NSA Collects via 702

Posted on By infossl
courts, datacollection, foia, nationalsecuritypolicy, nsa, privacy, Security technology, surveillance

New York Times reporter Charlie Savage writes about some bad statistics we’re all using: Among surveillance legal policy specialists, it is common to cite a set of statistics from an October 2011 opinion by Judge John Bates, then of the FISA Court, about the volume of internet communications the National Security Agency was collecting under … Read More “What the NSA Collects via 702” »

ShadowBrokers Releases NSA UNITEDRAKE Manual

Posted on By infossl
exploits, hacking, implants, kaspersky, leaks, malware, nsa, Security technology, windows

The ShadowBrokers released the manual for UNITEDRAKE, a sophisticated NSA Trojan that targets Windows machines: Able to compromise Windows PCs running on XP, Windows Server 2003 and 2008, Vista, Windows 7 SP 1 and below, as well as Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012, the attack tool acts as a service to capture information. UNITEDRAKE, … Read More “ShadowBrokers Releases NSA UNITEDRAKE Manual” »

NSA Collects MS Windows Error Information

Posted on By infossl
espionage, hacking, incentives, microsoft, nsa, Security technology, vulnerabilities, windows, zeroday

Back in 2013, Der Spiegel reported that the NSA intercepts and collects Windows bug reports: One example of the sheer creativity with which the TAO spies approach their work can be seen in a hacking method they use that exploits the error-proneness of Microsoft’s Windows. Every user of the operating system is familiar with the … Read More “NSA Collects MS Windows Error Information” »

Zero-Day Vulnerabilities against Windows in the NSA Tools Released by the Shadow Brokers

Posted on By infossl
exploits, microsoft, nsa, patching, russia, Security technology, vulnerabilities, windows, zeroday

In April, the Shadow Brokers — presumably Russia — released a batch of Windows exploits from what is presumably the NSA. Included in that release were eight different Windows vulnerabilities. Given a presumed theft date of the data as sometime between 2012 and 2013 — based on timestamps of the documents and the limited Windows … Read More “Zero-Day Vulnerabilities against Windows in the NSA Tools Released by the Shadow Brokers” »

More on the NSA’s Use of Traffic Shaping

Posted on By infossl
academicpapers, authentication, eavesdropping, nsa, privacy, Security technology, surveillance, trafficanalysis

“Traffic shaping” — the practice of tricking data to flow through a particular route on the Internet so it can be more easily surveiled — is an NSA technique that has gotten much less attention than it deserves. It’s a powerful technique that allows an eavesdropper to get access to communications channels it would otherwise … Read More “More on the NSA’s Use of Traffic Shaping” »

Fighting Leakers at Apple

Posted on By infossl
apple, intelligence, leaks, nsa, secrecy, Security technology

Apple is fighting its own battle against leakers, using people and tactics from the NSA. According to the hour-long presentation, Apple’s Global Security team employs an undisclosed number of investigators around the world to prevent information from reaching competitors, counterfeiters, and the press, as well as hunt down the source when leaks do occur. Some … Read More “Fighting Leakers at Apple” »