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http://archive.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2006/05/70908 http://archive.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2006/05/70... This stuff has been going on, a

http://archive.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2006/05/70908 http://archive.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2006/05/70... This stuff has been going on, and widely discussed, for over a decade. But no one really cared or understood the full scope until Snowden's slapped everyone across the face with it.

sp332 11y ago
Yeah I know about the AT&T splitters mentioned in the footnotes. But the Snowden leak was a lot bigger than that. Did 0xCMP know that the NSA was recording the full contents of every cell phone call in the Bahamas and keeping them around for at least 30 days?
- nickpsecurity 11y ago
  We didn't know but it wasn't paranoid to assume it. The reason was the Echelon leaks and what was done about those. The answer: nothing.
  - setpatchaddress 11y ago
    It wasn't paranoid in crypto-knowledgable circles. It earned you a tinfoil hat outside of them. That's why Snowden was important.
    - nickpsecurity 11y ago
      I totally agree with that. His work was greatest in raising awareness of people who'd otherwise never be exposed to it.
    - 0xCMP 11y ago
      This 100%. Snowden was so important because he brought this stuff mainstream. But, let's be completely clear that it was already mostly known in bits and pieces and many leaders in tech had already been sounding the alarms. I am in no way downplaying Snowden or what he prompted everyone to do, but everyone knew it was happening. They just weren't motivated or felt no one else cared. Its kind of like trying to get people to use PGP for normal communications: You understand why, and they might too, but they don't care enough. So it doesn't get done.
      - nickpsecurity 11y ago
        "Its kind of like trying to get people to use PGP for normal communications: You understand why, and they might too, but they don't care enough. So it doesn't get done." Good example. I've seen harder to use tools with little benefit adopted by enterprises because management forced it. The simplest version of encrypted email and storage often was ignored for just apathy.
barrkel 11y ago
That archive link doesn't reference Google at all, or non-consenting data feeds from internal networks of friendly companies. I too knew about that whistleblower before Snowden. I didn't know about Google intranet being compromised, or things like hostile code uploaded to hard disk controllers, or data exfiltration via compromised in-transit routers, etc.

sp332 11y ago

Yeah I know about the AT&T splitters mentioned in the footnotes. But the Snowden leak was a lot bigger than that. Did 0xCMP know that the NSA was recording the full contents of every cell phone call in the Bahamas and keeping them around for at least 30 days?

nickpsecurity 11y ago
We didn't know but it wasn't paranoid to assume it. The reason was the Echelon leaks and what was done about those. The answer: nothing.
- setpatchaddress 11y ago
  It wasn't paranoid in crypto-knowledgable circles. It earned you a tinfoil hat outside of them. That's why Snowden was important.
  - nickpsecurity 11y ago
    I totally agree with that. His work was greatest in raising awareness of people who'd otherwise never be exposed to it.
  - 0xCMP 11y ago
    This 100%. Snowden was so important because he brought this stuff mainstream. But, let's be completely clear that it was already mostly known in bits and pieces and many leaders in tech had already been sounding the alarms. I am in no way downplaying Snowden or what he prompted everyone to do, but everyone knew it was happening. They just weren't motivated or felt no one else cared. Its kind of like trying to get people to use PGP for normal communications: You understand why, and they might too, but they don't care enough. So it doesn't get done.
    - nickpsecurity 11y ago
      "Its kind of like trying to get people to use PGP for normal communications: You understand why, and they might too, but they don't care enough. So it doesn't get done." Good example. I've seen harder to use tools with little benefit adopted by enterprises because management forced it. The simplest version of encrypted email and storage often was ignored for just apathy.

barrkel 11y ago

That archive link doesn't reference Google at all, or non-consenting data feeds from internal networks of friendly companies. I too knew about that whistleblower before Snowden. I didn't know about Google intranet being compromised, or things like hostile code uploaded to hard disk controllers, or data exfiltration via compromised in-transit routers, etc.