Fallouts of Snowden's disclosures

Holy crap!!  

Among the discoveries made by the latest Snowden leaks, Guardian journalists say that Microsoft specifically aided the NSA in circumventing encrypted chat messages sent over the Outlook.com portal before the product was even launched to the public.

“The files show that the NSA became concerned about the interception of encrypted chats on Microsoft's Outlook.com portal from the moment the company began testing the service in July last year,” they wrote. “Within five months, the documents explain, Microsoft and the FBI had come up with a solution that allowed the NSA to circumvent encryption on Outlook.com chats.”

According to internal documents cited by the journalists, Microsoft “developed a surveillance capability” that was launched “to deal" with the feds’ concerns that they’d be unable to wiretap encrypted communications conducted over the Web in real time.

"These solutions were successfully tested and went live 12 Dec 2012,” the memo claims, two months before the Outlook.com portal was officially launched.

Link

O.k lady's and gentlemen we must assume the worst. 

Glad I don't buy any Microsoft products

Since Internet is USA and NSA is USA we must assume all packets that flow through cables are no more safe from NSA prying eyes.

If we leave aside the scandal the kind of capability that NSA possess are simply phenomenal , probably no other agency comes close to what NSA can do with global communication.

NSA is an organisation that draws all Intel organisation in USA including CIA and DIA both in budget and capability.

So there is news now that Russian are going back to good old typewriter .....i would guess we might have to go back to typewriter , pigeon and paper days to save ourself from NSA.

Most computer big names are US companies and all are tied up with NSA  

I am waiting for Snowden revelation on CISCO which is virtually the backbone for Networking over internet

Of course you have to ask what the value of information you can hear when all parties know you are listening...

Part of my conclusion to my paper on Echelon is that most people don't care. They really don't understand the level of violation of their privacy this entails and they feel they have not done anything wrong and therefore have nothing to worry about.

Of course they ignore the incompetence of a government department, and the power of a marketing agency with lots of good information about its potential clients... including private information like how much you earned and how much you claimed on your last income tax refund. How often you spend money and where is recorded by your cards... you can make a pretty concise profile of a person based on this sort of information.... but the problem is that at the end of the day they say this is for catching drug dealers, kiddy fiddlers, and terrorists and they need to be able to catch them right?

The thing is that they are just as likely to misuse this information...Echelon has been in place for decades yet when France plotted to blow up a ship in New Zealands largest harbour the Americans decided not to give us any warning. The data collection equipment is in various states including NZ but all the data is beamed directly to the US for processing and any information they decide is relevant to us we get... likely with anything that might incriminate them or step on their interests removed. In the case of France wanting revenge over NZ support for a nuclear free pacific the very pro nuclear US told us nothing. But the fear of being out of the loop keeps out government on side... and general public ignorance... well now it is not ignorance... it is indifference, means there will be lots of talk but very little action or reaction to this and the guilty parties will not only go unpunished but they will also continue breaking the law.

Laws being broken, mind you, not in the interests of justice or democracy or world peace... in the interests of the wealth and power of the US.

Ofcourse NSA intercept serves a far greater purpose then tracking terrorist , smugglers etc since the entire data is sucked up it pretty much suck up most of the million communication data for finding few 10's of data on these terrorist etc.

Most data is likely used for Business Intelligence by NSA to aid their MNC so called gathering confidential information from rival to aid American business.

The other types is to gather strategic and geo-political intelligence on friends and rivals to keep a tab on friends and to pre-empt the rival from making gains.

The remaining data would just serve to keep tab on NGO , anti-estsblishment people , Journalist , Intellecutals etc and cultivate them for pro-American interest.

It is not a co-incidence when the Indian PM said openly that the Kudakulum Nuclear protest in India on the site where Russian reactors are built were funded by US NGO in a move to sabotage and delay the commissioning of the Russian reactors.

Since India was 5th in the list to be most snooped.

I think what would really matter is how good NSA is in breaking encryption algo of Government Communication like says Russian government.

We know that Medvedev communication was intercepted by NSA during G-20 submit but did they manage to decrypt it or decrupt in real time to be really useful ? Or what Medvedev communication was non-encrypted so it was just a matter to snooping in on the frequency.

Ofcourse if these people use Windows or Applications or Security tools developed in US we can be dead sure that the encryption key is with the NSA.


Our Foreign Minister being the Moron that he is says the snooping by NSA is beneficial as it helps find terrorist , Reason David Headley being a Double Agent of US was never told to us by US and reason not a single big attack planned by Pakistani Terrorist was ever got intercepted in advance by India/US to prevent it  

Funny thing is Indian Airforce new C4I3 system called AFNET relies on CISCO and many vendors
http://news.outlookindia.com/items.aspx?artid=693464

The AFNET project was ably supported by BSNL, HCL Infosystems and CISCO. HCL's chairman Ajay Chaudhary and CISCO's country head Naresh Wadhwa were also present on the occasion.

Think CISCO Switches has the following functionality

AFNET project, with an estimated expenditure of Rs 1,077 crore, comprised Internet Protocol (IP) Multi Protocol Switching Protocol (MPLS) based Network with Optic Fibre Cables (OFC) as backbone.

A comprehensive design with multi-layer security precautions for 'Defence in Depth' have been planned by incorporating encryption technologies, Intrusion Prevention Systems to ensure the resistance of the IT system against information manipulation and eavesdropping   

I have worked with few Indian OEM they are pretty much clue less as far as security goes , if you tell them MS or CISCO tells you update patches or Firmware or BIOS to fix security they would happily oblige

Considering these Firmware/BIOS and MS like Security Fixes are binaries and are black holes , god only know what they fix or what kind of back door they open   

Or temporarily close for security testing and then open again...

Greenwald: Snowden has enough information to cause US govt ‘worst damage in history’

“Snowden has enough information to cause more damage to the US government in a minute alone than anyone else has ever had in the history of the United States,” Glenn Greenwald, the Guardian journalist responsible for publishing some of Snowden’s first leaks, told Argentina-based newspaper La Nación.

“But that's not his goal. His objective is to expose software that people around the world use without knowing what they are exposing themselves to, without consciously agreeing to surrender their rights to privacy. He has a huge number of documents that would be very harmful to the US government if they were made public,” Greenwald said.

The US government should be on its knees every day begging that nothing happen to Snowden, because if something does happen to him, all the information will be revealed and it could be its worst nightmare,” he said.

When asked whether he believed that someone would attempt to harm or kill the whistleblower, he said that Snowden has “already distributed thousands of documents and made sure that several people around the world have their entire file,” stating that it would be beneficial for anyone to attempt assassination.

“If something happens, all the information will be revealed, and that would be [America’s] worst nightmare,” he said.

Snowden is indeed a hero for citizen of the world , exposing the darkest secret of the digital word that was causing public harm.

Austin wrote:Snowden is indeed a hero for citizen of the world , exposing the darkest secret of the digital word that was causing public harm.

I agree. Snowden is a hero. Implications of his revelation will have impact of an nuclear weapon and the radius of destruction will be whole Earth. The best things however have jet to come.

Snowden sparks NSA overhaul: Sensitive data to be treated like nuclear weapons

Kerry vows to put the screws to Venezuela over Snowden – report

Snowden-Inspired: Brazilian Company Develops Hack-Proof Phone?

The Snowden revelations about the NSA’s spying program have had untold consequences across the globe. The latest? A Brazilian company’s development of a spy-proof smartphone, which – let’s face it – we’re all gonna want.

Every year, the Mobile World Congress gathers in Barcelona to unveil the newest innovations in the mobile technology. 2015 saw a number of highlights, including the IKEA wireless charging furniture, a standalone smartwatch unbound from a mobile companion, and a pocket-size projector for streaming video.

But perhaps the most appropriate device for our times is the GranitePhone unveiled by Brazilian company, Sikur. “Ideal for executives on the move that need to safeguard their data,” the company’s website states.

The GranitePhone’s principal goal is to provide hack-proof security for its users. The smartphone features heavy encryptions which protect phone calls, text messages, and shared documents. It also comes equipped with antivirus software and a wipe function which would allow users to delete their data remotely, should the phone be lost.

It also features 16GB of internal storage, all of which will be robustly protected.

Sikur is also avoiding the attention of hackers by using its own operating system, instead of Android or iOS. Since those operating systems are placed on millions of phones, they’re more tempting targets for would-be cybercriminals.

Leandro Coletti, Sikur’s chief operating system, admitted that the phone’s development stemmed from Brazil’s concerns over the NSA’s spying apparatus.

“Brazil was the epicenter of the Snowden affair, but until now, we had no practical response,” Coletti told reporters, referring in part to evidence which proved the US intelligence agency was monitoring the communications of Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff.

This isn’t the first time that Brazilian industry has responded to the Snowden revelations. Telecom provider Telebras has paid its share for a $185 million undersea cable which will connect the country with Europe. Previous cables have run through the United States before traversing the Atlantic, a route the Brazilian government is no longer entirely comfortable with.

The phone is already available for preorder, and is expected to be released this summer. But privacy comes with a steep price tag. Each GranitePhone costs a hefty $800. So, you know, maybe only buy one.

Read more: http://sputniknews.com/latam/20150305/1019120162.html#ixzz3TY3hY8Aa

New Zealand Plotted to Spy on China for US - NSA Documents

NSA documents revealed by Edward Snowden showe that New Zealand planned to spy on a data link between the Chinese consulate and the Chinese visa office in Auckland.

A New Zealand spy agency developed plans to carry out surveillance on the electronic communications between Chinese government offices in Auckland, New Zealand.

NSA documents revealed by Edward Snowden showed that New Zealand planned to spy on a data link between the Chinese consulate and the Chinese visa office in Auckland.

It was a top secret agenda to carry out the surveillance and because of the timing of the reports; it was not clear whether the GCSB carried out the plan.

A Chinese embassy spokesman said China was concerned about the report as they place great importance on the issue of cybersecurity.

Read more: http://sputniknews.com/asia/20150419/1021094991.html#ixzz3XlM5MA2A

NZ is part of Echelon and has sensors at Whenuapai (pronounced Fen-oo-a-pie) to listen electronically to electronic traffic in the Asia Pacific region.

Previously we have just passed all the data directly to the NSA who processed it and gave us the information they thought we should know, but I suspect we have been listening too.

Snowden leaks confirm existence of ECHELON


NSA documents obtained by whistleblower Edward Snowden confirm the existence of ECHELON, a secret surveillance network spying on satellite communications. Set up by the US and the UK in the 1960s, ECHELON was the precursor of today’s global dragnet.

The revelations vindicated the work of British investigative journalist Duncan Campbell, who first wrote about ECHELON’s existence in 1988 and continued writing about the program for the next 27 years.

NSA newsletters cited by The Intercept confirm that the program was set up in 1966, just a year after the first communication satellites were launched into Earth orbit. The dragnet was codenamed FROSTING, and consisted of two sub-programs. While TRANSIENT was targeting Soviet Union’s satellite communications, Western satellite signals were to be harvested by ECHELON. Eventually, all satellite surveillance was merged into FORNSAT, a global program exposed by the Snowden revelations.


I hope soviet union was also targetting both communication and military satellites of Five Eyes .

Leaked: 'New Snowden' Releases Obama's Drone Programme Papers

A cache of classified documents has revealed the inner workings of US drone operations in Somalia, Yemen and Afghanistan, including the mechanism of targeting suspects slated for assassination.
The documents, slides, visuals and analysis have been posted by The Intercept on Thursday as "The Drone Papers." The cache contains two sets of slides detailing the US military's drone operations in Somalia and Yemen between 2011 and 2013, by the secret Task Force 48-4.

The documents were provided to The Intercept by a source within the US intelligence community who wished to remain anonymous because of the government's aggressive prosecution of whistleblowers. He says the American public has the right to know about the process by which people are placed on kill lists and assassinated on orders from US government officials.