[Chaos Computer Club Video] To Protect And Infect

Well guys. There you go. Mother of all leaks.

For those who hadn't followed my advice to invest in aluminum foil when I blogged about bhow the NSA bribed the RSA to include backdoors in their security, or after Computerphile explained how SHA hashes are being used by BitCoin (a possible NSA operation to get more computing power for nothing, since they already knew the vulnerabilities in the SHA encryption alorythm)... well, nevermind that.

OK, let's remove the endless gloating parade of those who already understood how computer technologies work and how a government agency could use something like the internet or the computers or smartphones to gather information. Aside from the "ignorance is bliss" expression being transmuted from common saying into a motto for how most people live their lives, why is it that nobody really seems willing to do or say something about it?

What has our culture, our politics, and our values become if we're unwilling to look at the evidence, understand the problems, and do something about it? Perhaps the fear of repercussions has overwhelmed our values, and that may be more of something to bring uncertainty about the future of our society itself rather than a few leaks and abuses of power within a global intelligence agency. Just a thought. Have fun with that.

Iv followed the story's and leaks about the NSA but i was still shocked by the programs in this video.

The hardware spying gear and the remote re-purposing of components i.e. wifi cards and hard drives etc.

 

What angers me the most is the "marriage" between the NSA and American companies, and how it looks like some companies have deliberately held back on patching 0day's and have handed over their network infrastructure to facilitate the NSA's mass surveillance of the American people and many other victims around the world.

Now i'm sure if that is the case that the NSA have used their power and the USA's legal system to apply pressure, this also shows that as many of us know that they weren't only targeting the "Bad Guys".

 

This talk really does highlight that being apathetic about your privacy does you no good.

 

p.s I posted this video inside policy and tech before seeing your blog, my apologies.

//TheOurax

 

No problem, dude. And yeah, I was shocked when I watched this video as well. I wish more people would watch this video and comment on it. I'd also love to see Logan mention this video in the next "The Tek" video. It would be a great thing to mention, and to cover. (It would also be epic if he put a link in "The Tek" YouTube description to the entry here, because that way he could showcase some of the great topics/articles written by the community. Well, OK, this is a horrible article on my part, and I may or may not have been sort of trolling almost the whole way through it, with a few bits of sanity in between vast expanses of mockery, gloating and showboating. Wow, I guess I just made the point as to why he should just link directly to the YouTube video, didn't I? xD )

utterly speechless.

Most of it wasn't too surprising; I always make time to listen to Appelbaum at Defcon etc etc.

But the major things of note were the level of physical tampering. BIOS malware has been even mentioned in the Tek but to have it actually used and be as sophisticated as it is, is troublesome.

Also, the re-purposing of yours and your neighbor's wifi routers; and the ability for this technology to be used by drones completely passively.

Anther was how cheap the cell tower intercept was. I was aware you could (kinda not legally) build and use your own, but it being as cheap as it is compared to general govt. budget is pretty depressing.

The last part about the wave emitter isn't too surprising in reality, though it sounds very. The government has done some pretty crazy R&D in the past, (google: weaponized microwave emitters (one of many)) but it is interesting to see a surveillance twist. And the whole cancer thing. Not cool. I can't imagine that it's cheap, so it's more troubling that they've seriously spend the money to develop such a ridiculous tool, than the chance of it being used against me. Still though.

Thanks for posting though; I downloaded it on I2P but it wasn't playing past 4 seconds for some reason.

No problem. I thought this video might be a bit of a shocker, and since NSA stuff is something that interests the Tek, I figured this might be worth mentioning.

I knew that all this was possible for a long time, since I understand how technology works. I didn't know that we were doing all this stuff, though, but now we've got confirmation it *is* happened for several years at the very least. And if this stuff was in the NSA catalogue of '08 and '09, imagine what their '13 and '14 catalogue might include. (Is somebody going to post a meme of Qain with something along the lines of "NSA catalogue for 2014? Skynet, confirmed!" )

The issue I have isn't that we have this type of surveillance technology. It's that we're using to collect EVERYONE's data without asking, the fact that the NSA is trying to redefine surveillance to fit it's own needs, the fact the NSA does what it wants legally or not without answering to anyone for any crime, the fact that bringing up anything the NSA does (regardless of how legal it is or isn't) is a crime while NSA members who commit such acts are in a perpetual status of impunity, and the fact that the NSA doesn't go through legal channels to do what it does.

If the NSA were doing its job using legal channels, I'd be more accepting. However, not only has it failed to do so, it's also failed to produce evidence that the money we've poured into the NSA-money-pit has actually helped decrease terrorism or help increase our foreign relationships with allies. It's shown to be a waste of taxpayer dollars, which could save more american lives if spent in health care for the poor or health care for the veterans as we've promised them after serving for us. In fact, there's a greater return-on-investment of taxpayer dollars in healthcare than there ever was with the war in Iraq, Afghanistan or anything the NSA ever did. In fact, money spent by the government has helped save more american lives than anything like that.

The argument of spending money in war or surveillance to save more lives is a non-factual argument used by those who don't understand numbers or math, or who haven't checked the statistics, when they're compared dollar-per-dollar to save american lives against things like scientific research or health care. It's a money pit whose only purpose is for the international posturing and assertion of dominance by politicians who wish to convince their electorate that they're doing something, whilst not risking their own lives in the process as they hide behind their desks in the comfort of their office. It's sad this is what our nation has boiled down to... but alas, in a democratic society the voters are responsible for changing the future of a nation, so I guess we'll see where we go from here, and if we'll continue to let ourselves be fooled again. I hope, but my expectations aren't high anymore. But I'd love to be proved wrong.