3 ms·

It sounds like there are 3 plausible reasons. (1) they had compromised those components and were trying to clean up after themselves (2) they were afraid someon

It sounds like there are 3 plausible reasons. (1) they had compromised those components and were trying to clean up after themselves (2) they were afraid someone else had compromised them (3) intentional misdirection. If the GHCQ knew that these components were easily compromised, they would have bugged them themselves given their interest in the material on those machines.

vasquez 12y ago
4) They were on a power trip and looking to destroy things for the sake of it, just to make some point. 5) Extending their "field time" for personal reasons, e.g. because it pays really well. 6) The people in question were just completely clueless about hardware.
- dfox 12y ago
  It seems to me that they simply destroyed everything that contains the word "programmable" in it's description, including switching regulator that is "programmed" by choice of external resistor.
sheldor2398 12y ago
Well it could be misdirection but id argue that they have better ways to spread misinformation than doing it on exactly this OP. Also they most certainly dont want people to speculate if they use such methods or not, especially on possible stock hardware on a large scale, therefore I dont see much logic in that scenario. What we do know thanks to the Snowden files is, that they indeed install stealthy espionage equipment in seemingly uninteresting components (by intercepting mail orders for example). Not just to monitor keystrokes, etc but also to manipulate the PRNG (looking at you power converter). The fact that some of those destroyed components are actually related to espionage relevant parts (such as keyboard, touchscreen, etc), rings some alarm bells at least. Maybe they were indeed afraid that the systems were compromised but if so, why only destroy specific components and not just the whole thing? Its top secret material after all and the protocols for safely destroying it are ridiculously strict. How could they be sure that there are no further compromised components which might survive? The way I see it, I would tend to your first scenario.

vasquez 12y ago

4) They were on a power trip and looking to destroy things for the sake of it, just to make some point. 5) Extending their "field time" for personal reasons, e.g. because it pays really well. 6) The people in question were just completely clueless about hardware.

dfox 12y ago
It seems to me that they simply destroyed everything that contains the word "programmable" in it's description, including switching regulator that is "programmed" by choice of external resistor.

sheldor2398 12y ago

Well it could be misdirection but id argue that they have better ways to spread misinformation than doing it on exactly this OP. Also they most certainly dont want people to speculate if they use such methods or not, especially on possible stock hardware on a large scale, therefore I dont see much logic in that scenario. What we do know thanks to the Snowden files is, that they indeed install stealthy espionage equipment in seemingly uninteresting components (by intercepting mail orders for example). Not just to monitor keystrokes, etc but also to manipulate the PRNG (looking at you power converter). The fact that some of those destroyed components are actually related to espionage relevant parts (such as keyboard, touchscreen, etc), rings some alarm bells at least. Maybe they were indeed afraid that the systems were compromised but if so, why only destroy specific components and not just the whole thing? Its top secret material after all and the protocols for safely destroying it are ridiculously strict. How could they be sure that there are no further compromised components which might survive? The way I see it, I would tend to your first scenario.