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I don't think you'll find any of this info online but TOSHIBA is the reason the US Navy has active personnel on ALL Japanese Self Defense Forces ships. ALWAYS,

I don't think you'll find any of this info online but TOSHIBA is the reason the US Navy has active personnel on ALL Japanese Self Defense Forces ships. ALWAYS, the US Navy has at least 1-2 people stationed on JSDF ships (I did 2 tours on a japanese boat). This is WILD because it came up as part of an agreement 20 years ago because it was discovered that Toshiba had put a backdoor on all Toshiba hard drives. Basically the US told Japan, either we release what Toshiba did, or you put our Navy guys (I only know navy but probably other branches too) on your boats. Japan agreed, the scandel went away and Toshiba was left to rot as a zombie company. Maybe your financial reason got them where they are today, but Toshiba was effectivly dead 20 years ago when they screwed over the US and Japanese governments at the same time, crazy that Japan let them zombify for 20 years.

quesera 3y ago
How can a discerning reader tell the difference between this story and an unsubstantiated rumor? "backdoor on all Toshiba hard drives" is an enormous security concern for all world citizens.
- lokar 3y ago
  What would a HDD “back door” even consist of 20+ years ago?
  - kylebenzle 3y ago
    No idea, I only got told the story by the commander while we were drinking in our state rooms in the JSDF ship, maybe he was lying? Importantly though they said it was sending data back, THAT was the issue because the navy had used their drives, so basically stealing us gov data.
    - FirmwareBurner 3y ago
      >No idea, I only got told the story by the commander while we were drinking in our state rooms in the JSDF ship, maybe he was lying? Military staff would never lie and are also known to be very tech savvy. Story seems legit to me.
    - rasz 3y ago
      >No idea, I only got told perfect! :) The story makes no sense, but as always with conspiracy theories there is a small grain of truth in there. Asianometry: Toshiba’s Big Technology Export Scandal https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uaRyqAVIkwI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uaRyqAVIkwI
  - autoexec 3y ago
    Something in their implementation of SMART or some other chip on the controller? No idea what exactly it would have been a backdoor too. The OS? The BIOS? The data on the drive? Memory? Toshiba has offered a number of hardware and software encryption options over the years, but a casual search didn't turn up much older than 10 years.
    - lokar 3y ago
      No one serious depends on drive encryption, you shred the drive when you are done with it.
- kylebenzle 3y ago
  You can't, I guess that's the nature of dissiminating top secret information on the Internet, don't believe me, or use it as a jumping off point and look it up, I don't care, just telling you want happened. I could give a few more details but that's the interesting part
- 0xbadcafebee 3y ago
  I think they mean the machines' OS was backdoored, not the hard drive itself. Happened with Lenovo multiple times, could have happened with other manufacturers. https://thehackernews.com/2013/07/Lenovo-banned-Intelligence-Chinese-backdoor-vulnerabilities.html https://thehackernews.com/2013/07/Lenovo-banned-Intelligence... https://thehackernews.com/search/label/Lenovo%20Backdoor%20Malware https://thehackernews.com/search/label/Lenovo%20Backdoor%20M... But also keep in mind the NSA has been backdooring and infiltrating both domestic and foreign commercial entities & critical infrastructure for decades. We can't pretend this is shocking.
FirmwareBurner 3y ago
>it was discovered that Toshiba had put a backdoor on all Toshiba hard drives How can we know this is true, and how would a HDD backdoor even work? What's the exploit here? Does the firmware on the HDD controller magically connect to the internet via the SATA cable and through the host controller to siphon your data to the Japanese alphabet agencies? Sounds pretty absurd.
- hammock 3y ago
  Hard drives have firmware and hidden partitions. An attacker with access to these could manipulate them to create a backdoor which allows remote control, data access, etc.
  - deleted 3y ago
    [deleted]
  - FirmwareBurner 3y ago
    >HDDs have firmware. That's ... what I just said. >An attacker with access to the firmware could manipulate it to create a backdoor. You can create backdoors for every device, not just HDDs, why should Toshiba be liable here? iPhones and Androids have tonnes of exploits written for them? Are we extorting them too for SW bugs that lead to vulnerabilities? >This might involve modifying the firmware to allow remote control, unauthorized data access, or other malicious actions Remote access how? Can I talk to the exploited firmware of your HDD via the internet while magically bypassing firewalls and the OS security? Is that a technically feasible thing or are you just speculating without background knowledge? Sounds like first you'd need to compromise the firewalls, OS, SATA controller and network layers to let outsiders talk to the compromised HDD firmware via the internet and if the attacker already has that kind of remote access to your system, then you're already screwed and compromised and the HDD firmware is the least of your worries. Even if remote HDD firmware vulnerabilities are not technically feasible and only work if you get your hands on the HDD, in cyber-secvurity world, if your HDD/laptop/PC is in the hands of the attacker, then you can consider it already compromised regardless of HDD firmware security. It all sounds like a nothing burgher or pure FUD.
fidotron 3y ago
Toshiba-US relations have a far more serious foundational problem than that: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toshiba–Kongsberg_scandal https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toshiba–Kongsberg_scandal
AnonymousPlanet 3y ago
Do you have any sources for your claim that there are always US Navy personnel on JSDF ships?
- kylebenzle 3y ago
  That's a good question a d should be easy to look up, but no I have no idea. I can tell you though, 1,000% EVERY Japanese sdf ship has at least 2 US Navy person on board when deployed. That's a fact.
  - AnonymousPlanet 3y ago
    I have tried to look it up and did not find a single source that corroborates your claim. It certainly isn't an official program.
nvy 3y ago
What a load of malarkey. The US intelligence apparatus discovers that a Japanese company has backdoored all its hard drives which are apparently also installed on USN vessels. The US, out of benevolence for this non-US company's reputation, I guess, decides to agree to a secret deal with its ally. The secret deal is that US Navy personnel will be put onto Japanese naval vessels, which in no way remedies the problem of backdoored hard drives that supposedly exist. Random JMSDF captains know the details of this supposedly secret deal and discuss it freely without consequence. Imagine believing this. Japan has been a friendly country and valuable Pacific strategic ally for decades. What exactly is the US supposedly gaining here? Maybe it's more likely there's an exchange program between allied Navies, like there is with dozens of other countries??
ketralnis 3y ago
You say later in this thread: > I only got told the story by the commander while we were drinking in our state rooms in the JSDF ship, maybe he was lying? But you're presenting it here with way more credence than that justifies. This is a conspiracy theory and unsurprisingly this is exactly how they get spread.

quesera 3y ago

How can a discerning reader tell the difference between this story and an unsubstantiated rumor? "backdoor on all Toshiba hard drives" is an enormous security concern for all world citizens.

lokar 3y ago
What would a HDD “back door” even consist of 20+ years ago?
- kylebenzle 3y ago
  No idea, I only got told the story by the commander while we were drinking in our state rooms in the JSDF ship, maybe he was lying? Importantly though they said it was sending data back, THAT was the issue because the navy had used their drives, so basically stealing us gov data.
  - FirmwareBurner 3y ago
    >No idea, I only got told the story by the commander while we were drinking in our state rooms in the JSDF ship, maybe he was lying? Military staff would never lie and are also known to be very tech savvy. Story seems legit to me.
  - rasz 3y ago
    >No idea, I only got told perfect! :) The story makes no sense, but as always with conspiracy theories there is a small grain of truth in there. Asianometry: Toshiba’s Big Technology Export Scandal https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uaRyqAVIkwI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uaRyqAVIkwI
- autoexec 3y ago
  Something in their implementation of SMART or some other chip on the controller? No idea what exactly it would have been a backdoor too. The OS? The BIOS? The data on the drive? Memory? Toshiba has offered a number of hardware and software encryption options over the years, but a casual search didn't turn up much older than 10 years.
  - lokar 3y ago
    No one serious depends on drive encryption, you shred the drive when you are done with it.
kylebenzle 3y ago
You can't, I guess that's the nature of dissiminating top secret information on the Internet, don't believe me, or use it as a jumping off point and look it up, I don't care, just telling you want happened. I could give a few more details but that's the interesting part
0xbadcafebee 3y ago
I think they mean the machines' OS was backdoored, not the hard drive itself. Happened with Lenovo multiple times, could have happened with other manufacturers. https://thehackernews.com/2013/07/Lenovo-banned-Intelligence-Chinese-backdoor-vulnerabilities.html https://thehackernews.com/2013/07/Lenovo-banned-Intelligence... https://thehackernews.com/search/label/Lenovo%20Backdoor%20Malware https://thehackernews.com/search/label/Lenovo%20Backdoor%20M... But also keep in mind the NSA has been backdooring and infiltrating both domestic and foreign commercial entities & critical infrastructure for decades. We can't pretend this is shocking.

FirmwareBurner 3y ago

>it was discovered that Toshiba had put a backdoor on all Toshiba hard drives How can we know this is true, and how would a HDD backdoor even work? What's the exploit here? Does the firmware on the HDD controller magically connect to the internet via the SATA cable and through the host controller to siphon your data to the Japanese alphabet agencies? Sounds pretty absurd.

hammock 3y ago
Hard drives have firmware and hidden partitions. An attacker with access to these could manipulate them to create a backdoor which allows remote control, data access, etc.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
- FirmwareBurner 3y ago
  >HDDs have firmware. That's ... what I just said. >An attacker with access to the firmware could manipulate it to create a backdoor. You can create backdoors for every device, not just HDDs, why should Toshiba be liable here? iPhones and Androids have tonnes of exploits written for them? Are we extorting them too for SW bugs that lead to vulnerabilities? >This might involve modifying the firmware to allow remote control, unauthorized data access, or other malicious actions Remote access how? Can I talk to the exploited firmware of your HDD via the internet while magically bypassing firewalls and the OS security? Is that a technically feasible thing or are you just speculating without background knowledge? Sounds like first you'd need to compromise the firewalls, OS, SATA controller and network layers to let outsiders talk to the compromised HDD firmware via the internet and if the attacker already has that kind of remote access to your system, then you're already screwed and compromised and the HDD firmware is the least of your worries. Even if remote HDD firmware vulnerabilities are not technically feasible and only work if you get your hands on the HDD, in cyber-secvurity world, if your HDD/laptop/PC is in the hands of the attacker, then you can consider it already compromised regardless of HDD firmware security. It all sounds like a nothing burgher or pure FUD.

fidotron 3y ago

Toshiba-US relations have a far more serious foundational problem than that: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toshiba–Kongsberg_scandal https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toshiba–Kongsberg_scandal

AnonymousPlanet 3y ago

Do you have any sources for your claim that there are always US Navy personnel on JSDF ships?

kylebenzle 3y ago
That's a good question a d should be easy to look up, but no I have no idea. I can tell you though, 1,000% EVERY Japanese sdf ship has at least 2 US Navy person on board when deployed. That's a fact.
- AnonymousPlanet 3y ago
  I have tried to look it up and did not find a single source that corroborates your claim. It certainly isn't an official program.

nvy 3y ago

What a load of malarkey. The US intelligence apparatus discovers that a Japanese company has backdoored all its hard drives which are apparently also installed on USN vessels. The US, out of benevolence for this non-US company's reputation, I guess, decides to agree to a secret deal with its ally. The secret deal is that US Navy personnel will be put onto Japanese naval vessels, which in no way remedies the problem of backdoored hard drives that supposedly exist. Random JMSDF captains know the details of this supposedly secret deal and discuss it freely without consequence. Imagine believing this. Japan has been a friendly country and valuable Pacific strategic ally for decades. What exactly is the US supposedly gaining here? Maybe it's more likely there's an exchange program between allied Navies, like there is with dozens of other countries??

ketralnis 3y ago

You say later in this thread: > I only got told the story by the commander while we were drinking in our state rooms in the JSDF ship, maybe he was lying? But you're presenting it here with way more credence than that justifies. This is a conspiracy theory and unsurprisingly this is exactly how they get spread.