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I'm sure this comment will be heavily downvoted but I read several times that FBI and similar agencies were 7 years ahead in terms of technology including secur

I'm sure this comment will be heavily downvoted but I read several times that FBI and similar agencies were 7 years ahead in terms of technology including security of systems. I didn't believe in those quotes and every time a situation like this happens I'm more convinced that they are no more advanced than the big companies (Microsoft, Mozilla...) and depend heavily on the updates released by those companies every week... Just my 5 cents...

JakeSc 14y ago
Just the statement that one's organization is "seven years ahead in terms of computer security" implies a fair amount of technological ignorance. How can an organization be seven years ahead of everyone else? Do they have Norton Antivirus 17.0, whereas the rest of us are using 10.0?
- michaelkscott 14y ago
  Yes, in fact, it implies technological illiteracy. But I can imagine what kinds of people would say that.
- jackpirate 14y ago
  Well, they could for example invent RSA years before the public knows about it. (British intelligence did this). Or they could invent differential cryptanalysis before the public knows about it. (NSA did this.)
dickeytk 14y ago
Hashing passwords (so you can never get back to the original password) has been used for decades.
cdash 14y ago
Well I would think that the FBI would really be the wrong agency for this to apply to has they are really no more than just normal police officers on the federal level.
vibrunazo 14y ago
If my experience having worked closely with local government IT, also applies to the FBI (I would bet it does). Then they, just like any technology in the public sector, is usually 10 years behind in technology compared to the private sector. They're just mostly bored undertrained people, with no real incentives to do a good job. Who would rather play office politics to raise chances of getting promotion, than to learn the heck is this php injection thingy. As opposed to the Hollywood scenes of ultra high tech rooms with floating transparent screens, shiny lights everywhere, and super advanced systems that can listen to your voice commands and instantly solve complex cases just by saying "enhance!". Which is probably the vision this person who talked to you had. Reality is more like windows xp and programs that compile even when the unit tests fail.
- Evbn 14y ago
  How would you know if a unit test fails, if the program doesn't compile?
mrbombastic 14y ago
I think people that say things like that are just terrified that no one has any idea what is going on. :)

JakeSc 14y ago

Just the statement that one's organization is "seven years ahead in terms of computer security" implies a fair amount of technological ignorance. How can an organization be seven years ahead of everyone else? Do they have Norton Antivirus 17.0, whereas the rest of us are using 10.0?

michaelkscott 14y ago
Yes, in fact, it implies technological illiteracy. But I can imagine what kinds of people would say that.
jackpirate 14y ago
Well, they could for example invent RSA years before the public knows about it. (British intelligence did this). Or they could invent differential cryptanalysis before the public knows about it. (NSA did this.)

dickeytk 14y ago

Hashing passwords (so you can never get back to the original password) has been used for decades.

cdash 14y ago

Well I would think that the FBI would really be the wrong agency for this to apply to has they are really no more than just normal police officers on the federal level.

vibrunazo 14y ago

If my experience having worked closely with local government IT, also applies to the FBI (I would bet it does). Then they, just like any technology in the public sector, is usually 10 years behind in technology compared to the private sector. They're just mostly bored undertrained people, with no real incentives to do a good job. Who would rather play office politics to raise chances of getting promotion, than to learn the heck is this php injection thingy. As opposed to the Hollywood scenes of ultra high tech rooms with floating transparent screens, shiny lights everywhere, and super advanced systems that can listen to your voice commands and instantly solve complex cases just by saying "enhance!". Which is probably the vision this person who talked to you had. Reality is more like windows xp and programs that compile even when the unit tests fail.

Evbn 14y ago
How would you know if a unit test fails, if the program doesn't compile?

mrbombastic 14y ago

I think people that say things like that are just terrified that no one has any idea what is going on. :)