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For its first 50 years or so NSA had a dual mission: protect the US from spying while spying on others. But these last 20 years they've undermined that first mi

For its first 50 years or so NSA had a dual mission: protect the US from spying while spying on others. But these last 20 years they've undermined that first mission. They've now attacked and weakened American technology so many times that you'd be crazy to trust anything the NSA offers to make you more secure. It doesn't help when they lose control of their own hacking tools igniting a major expansion in ransomware. I don't think America can ever recover from this breach of trust. Maybe NSA just needs to be shut down entirely. Or at least redefined explicitly as an adversarial agency to everyone.

mark_l_watson 5y ago
You are correct, and the transition point was 9/11. Before that the NSA was doing good work shoring up our digital infrastructure, as well as working with the FBI to go after international crime syndicates. I wish we could get back to that.
- the_rectifier 5y ago
  Not at all, it was focused on implementing backdoors and surveillance for decades before that.
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
- craftinator 5y ago
  > Before that the NSA was doing good work shoring up our digital infrastructure Yeah, like introducing the Clipper chip!
caeril 5y ago
> you'd be crazy to trust anything the NSA offers to make you more secure You'd also be crazy to trust anything made by American gear vendors. This is not the only instance of this, just one of the ones for which FVEY got caught. Is non-US gear also compromised? Yeah, probably. But the PLA and the GRU can't physically confine you to an 8x8 steel cage on trumped-up charges predicated on the data they exfil from your network. Your best bet is to buy gear from countries either not-friendly or actively hostile to the country you're in. Sure, you're probably pwned, but they're not sending a SWAT team in an MRAP to shoot your dog, either.
- spockz 5y ago
  Would you be safe by running multiple layers around your network? Each layer from a different vendor?
  - tim-- 5y ago
    It depends on your threat level.
- swiley 5y ago
  Your best bet is to use things developed entirely in the open. Even if that compromises performance.
  - simiones 5y ago
    That doesn't help if you're trying to be safe from a powerful world government - one with the resources and will to infiltrate an open project for its own ends. It's far less likely that there are US backdoors in Huawei routers (which surely contain Chinese backdoors!) than in any mostly american open-source software you pick.
    - swiley 5y ago
      Huawei routers are well known to be backdoored by the Chinese government. If you’re worried about attacks from nations then you can only build things yourself from scratch, your next best option is things done in the open since the bar for hiding back doors is much higher.
- SkyMarshal 5y ago
  >But the PLA and the GRU can't physically confine you to an 8x8 steel cage on trumped-up charges predicated on the data they exfil from your network. Actually they can, and with less legal recourse for you than in the US. It just depends on where in the world you happen to be when they decide they want you.
  - 5y ago
kafkaIncarnate 5y ago
"You either die a hero, or live long enough to see yourself become the villain." -Harvey Dent

mark_l_watson 5y ago

You are correct, and the transition point was 9/11. Before that the NSA was doing good work shoring up our digital infrastructure, as well as working with the FBI to go after international crime syndicates. I wish we could get back to that.

the_rectifier 5y ago
Not at all, it was focused on implementing backdoors and surveillance for decades before that.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
craftinator 5y ago
> Before that the NSA was doing good work shoring up our digital infrastructure Yeah, like introducing the Clipper chip!

caeril 5y ago

> you'd be crazy to trust anything the NSA offers to make you more secure You'd also be crazy to trust anything made by American gear vendors. This is not the only instance of this, just one of the ones for which FVEY got caught. Is non-US gear also compromised? Yeah, probably. But the PLA and the GRU can't physically confine you to an 8x8 steel cage on trumped-up charges predicated on the data they exfil from your network. Your best bet is to buy gear from countries either not-friendly or actively hostile to the country you're in. Sure, you're probably pwned, but they're not sending a SWAT team in an MRAP to shoot your dog, either.

spockz 5y ago
Would you be safe by running multiple layers around your network? Each layer from a different vendor?
- tim-- 5y ago
  It depends on your threat level.
swiley 5y ago
Your best bet is to use things developed entirely in the open. Even if that compromises performance.
- simiones 5y ago
  That doesn't help if you're trying to be safe from a powerful world government - one with the resources and will to infiltrate an open project for its own ends. It's far less likely that there are US backdoors in Huawei routers (which surely contain Chinese backdoors!) than in any mostly american open-source software you pick.
  - swiley 5y ago
    Huawei routers are well known to be backdoored by the Chinese government. If you’re worried about attacks from nations then you can only build things yourself from scratch, your next best option is things done in the open since the bar for hiding back doors is much higher.
SkyMarshal 5y ago
>But the PLA and the GRU can't physically confine you to an 8x8 steel cage on trumped-up charges predicated on the data they exfil from your network. Actually they can, and with less legal recourse for you than in the US. It just depends on where in the world you happen to be when they decide they want you.
- 5y ago

kafkaIncarnate 5y ago

"You either die a hero, or live long enough to see yourself become the villain." -Harvey Dent