4 ms·

Absolutely fabulous. Best part: "NSA hoard their knowledge of weaknesses in Microsoft Windows, a vitally important piece of their own nation's infrastructure, i

Absolutely fabulous. Best part: "NSA hoard their knowledge of weaknesses in Microsoft Windows, a vitally important piece of their own nation's infrastructure, in case they'll come in handy againt some hypothetical future enemy. (I'm sorry, but this just won't wash; surely the good guys would prioritize protecting their own corporate infrastructure?" Yep - way too implausible, even for hacker fiction. Anyway, sounds like your book was Nostradamus-esque in depicting recent events. Maybe a bit too good :D

vetinari 9y ago
> I'm sorry, but this just won't wash; surely the good guys would prioritize protecting their own corporate infrastructure?" No, why would they? Not a single nation in the world is speaking with a united voice; there are groups with different interests. See Clinton vs Trump. Why would either of them help fix the infrastructure belonging to other's clan? Both of them would prefer the exploitable one at the other side.
- imron 9y ago
  > No, why would they? Because in the prequel, when a whistleblower leaked a trove of secrets regarding the NSA's global spying program, the outrage and backlash from the technical community led to the government issuing assurances that it would do just that.
  - arghwhat 9y ago
    "Assurances".
    - vetinari 9y ago
      That and the political impact was and is zero.
thwarted 9y ago
(I'm sorry, but this just won't wash; surely the good guys would prioritize protecting their own corporate infrastructure?) Yeah, this is a great bit. Of course the good guys would would prioritize protecting their own infrastructure; one of the most important bits of this whole situation isn't about what the good guys would do, it's who is a good guy.
johan_larson 9y ago
I'd say it's plenty possible. The mission of the NSA is collecting information and providing that information to the government and military. They are not in the business of defending infrastructure, whether public or private. It makes perfect sense that they would collect information about back doors they could use later against identified targets. More about the NSA's mission here: https://www.nsa.gov/news-features/press-room/statements/2013-08-09-the-nsa-story.shtml https://www.nsa.gov/news-features/press-room/statements/2013... "NSA's mission is to help protect national security by providing policy makers and military commanders with the intelligence information they need to do their jobs." For the NSA to hand over information about identified back doors in Windows to Microsoft directly would be clearly outside this mission. That said, the NSA should have informed someone in the government of these back doors, at least in a general sense, so policy makers could have decided whether it would have been better to convey it to Microsoft or to let the NSA continue to keep them secret. Maybe they did. Who knows?
- CamperBob2 9y ago
  To the extent their mission doesn't involve making us more secure, why are my taxes paying for them? The NSA sounds like a swamp that needs draining, in the parlance of our times. They're breeding mosquitoes.
  - Gaelan 9y ago
    The argument is probably that it supports national security, which is good for your personal safety.
Kali909 9y ago
"NSA hoard their knowledge of weaknesses in Microsoft Windows, a vitally important piece of their own nation's infrastructure, in case they'll come in handy againt some hypothetical future enemy. (I'm sorry, but this just won't wash; surely the good guys would prioritize protecting their own corporate infrastructure?" Lol. I'd hate to rebutted by a publisher under any circumstance, but under ignorance would hurt more. Edit: I think this went over my head while the Guinness was going down.
mirimir 9y ago
Yes, this is priceless! I'm reminded of Halting State. A riff on this would make a great novel.

vetinari 9y ago

> I'm sorry, but this just won't wash; surely the good guys would prioritize protecting their own corporate infrastructure?" No, why would they? Not a single nation in the world is speaking with a united voice; there are groups with different interests. See Clinton vs Trump. Why would either of them help fix the infrastructure belonging to other's clan? Both of them would prefer the exploitable one at the other side.

imron 9y ago
> No, why would they? Because in the prequel, when a whistleblower leaked a trove of secrets regarding the NSA's global spying program, the outrage and backlash from the technical community led to the government issuing assurances that it would do just that.
- arghwhat 9y ago
  "Assurances".
  - vetinari 9y ago
    That and the political impact was and is zero.

thwarted 9y ago

(I'm sorry, but this just won't wash; surely the good guys would prioritize protecting their own corporate infrastructure?) Yeah, this is a great bit. Of course the good guys would would prioritize protecting their own infrastructure; one of the most important bits of this whole situation isn't about what the good guys would do, it's who is a good guy.

johan_larson 9y ago

I'd say it's plenty possible. The mission of the NSA is collecting information and providing that information to the government and military. They are not in the business of defending infrastructure, whether public or private. It makes perfect sense that they would collect information about back doors they could use later against identified targets. More about the NSA's mission here: https://www.nsa.gov/news-features/press-room/statements/2013-08-09-the-nsa-story.shtml https://www.nsa.gov/news-features/press-room/statements/2013... "NSA's mission is to help protect national security by providing policy makers and military commanders with the intelligence information they need to do their jobs." For the NSA to hand over information about identified back doors in Windows to Microsoft directly would be clearly outside this mission. That said, the NSA should have informed someone in the government of these back doors, at least in a general sense, so policy makers could have decided whether it would have been better to convey it to Microsoft or to let the NSA continue to keep them secret. Maybe they did. Who knows?

CamperBob2 9y ago
To the extent their mission doesn't involve making us more secure, why are my taxes paying for them? The NSA sounds like a swamp that needs draining, in the parlance of our times. They're breeding mosquitoes.
- Gaelan 9y ago
  The argument is probably that it supports national security, which is good for your personal safety.

Kali909 9y ago

"NSA hoard their knowledge of weaknesses in Microsoft Windows, a vitally important piece of their own nation's infrastructure, in case they'll come in handy againt some hypothetical future enemy. (I'm sorry, but this just won't wash; surely the good guys would prioritize protecting their own corporate infrastructure?" Lol. I'd hate to rebutted by a publisher under any circumstance, but under ignorance would hurt more. Edit: I think this went over my head while the Guinness was going down.

mirimir 9y ago

Yes, this is priceless! I'm reminded of Halting State. A riff on this would make a great novel.