4 ms·

It can't be NSA agents who caught intercepting network gear from Cisco Systems as it was being shipped to a customer (as revealed by snowden) it is highly unlik

• meowface 11y ago
  To play devil's advocate, it is a big leap going from backdooring a specific device sent to a specific person you may by monitoring, to backdooring every one of those devices. Not that I would put it past NSA, though.
• rtpg 11y ago
  I don't disagree that they might have the intent to, but it's possible they didn't have the capability to. Much like the difference between forcing sites to hand over SSL certs and breaking SSL, there's a gulf between compromising hardware that you have physical access to and compromising the software stack at the source. In this case I wouldn't be surprised if that turned out to be the narrative, but the "NSA can accomplish anything" position is a narrative that plays into their favor.
  • coldtea 11y ago
    >Much like the difference between forcing sites to hand over SSL certs and breaking SSL, there's a gulf between compromising hardware that you have physical access to and compromising the software stack at the source. You know that they could have their own programmers working there, or just approach, bribe or blackmail, an existing programmer to compromise the software (e.g. one found with child porn on his HD).