Microsoft Gets Help From NSA for Vista Security 233
An anonymous reader writes "The Washington Post is reporting that Microsoft received help from the National Security Agency in protecting the Vista operating system from worms and viruses. The Agency aimed to help as many people as they could, and chose to assist Vista with good reason: the OS still has a 90 percent lock on the PC market, with some 600 million Vista users expected by 2010. From the article: 'The Redmond, Wash., software maker declined to be specific about the contributions the NSA made to secure the Windows operating system ... Microsoft said this is not the first time it has sought help from the NSA. For about four years, Microsoft has tapped the spy agency for security expertise in reviewing its operating systems, including the Windows XP consumer version and the Windows Server 2003 for corporate customers.'"
Tax Dollars (Score:1, Interesting)
Tip of the day (Score:4, Interesting)
Hey, here's a tip for all you foreign governments out there: Don't use Windows! I hope that helps!
Seriously, I can't believe that there isn't greater demand for other alternatives to Windows in foreign governments. I wonder if Mahmoud Ahmadinejad uses windows...
Re:Nothing new to NSA... (Score:3, Interesting)
Interesting (or not) (Score:2, Interesting)
Point being, it seems like something that the vendor would want to dispel pronto. (Yes, Apple and Novell also as they collaborate with the NSA per TFA).
Security Enhanced Linux (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Tip of the day (Score:2, Interesting)
Countries might want to set up firewalls to intercept updates so that they can be screened for malicious code before anyone can access them. All major application update mechanisms will need to be checked.
When does the NSA help Linux distros and Mac OS? (Score:2, Interesting)
Read TFA (Score:5, Interesting)
"The NSA also declined to be specific but said it used two groups -- a "red team" and a "blue team" -- to test Vista's security. The red team, for instance, posed as "the determined, technically competent adversary" to disrupt, corrupt or steal information. "They pretend to be bad guys," Sager said. The blue team helped Defense Department system administrators with Vista's configuration
Also, Microsoft isn't the only company that NSA and other govt. agencies have helped with security. Besides SELinux, which others have mentioned, there's Apple:
"Other software makers have turned to government agencies for security advice, including Apple, which makes the Mac OS X operating system. "We work with a number of U.S. government agencies on Mac OS X security and collaborated with the NSA on the Mac OS X security configuration guide," said Apple spokesman Anuj Nayar in an e-mail."
So this isn't that big a deal, it's just that Microsoft is trying to capitalize on the relationship to counter the prevailing belief (or truth?) that Windows is insecure and that Vista is no big improvement.
Spook backdoor to Vista (Score:2, Interesting)
Sure, I'm just delusional. But then again, there was that WMF exploit that according to Security guy Steve Gibson (grc.com and the SecurityNow podcast) inferred that was deliberately put in the code by someone (though he didn't point the finger at MS, some contractor for MS, at the Gov't direction, or anyone else). Before it was patched, it allowed the execution of arbitrary code on a client computer, caused by merely visiting a website that had a WMF icon/image in it.
Sure sound like a useful tool to fight terrorists who communicate on the internet (or anyone else).
Re:password length and complexity (Score:3, Interesting)
NSA and DES (Score:4, Interesting)
I'm curious if NSA made similar "requests" to Microsoft.
Uh huh . . . (Score:3, Interesting)
Isn't this a bit like chickens getting help from a pack of wolves for their security needs?
Perhaps I'm being too cynical, as both MS and the NSA have just stellar track records on their concern for an individual's privacy . . .
Comment removed (Score:3, Interesting)
Turn to God or to people? (Score:1, Interesting)
Why don't you turn to God directly?
God and the church are very, very different things. Church bosses often talk as if they were mandated by God, which they are not, and indeed they often talk and act like charlatans. We all have to take on ourselves to live according to the Word. Then we ourselves will be the miracles.
Re:Spook backdoor to Vista (Score:5, Interesting)