NSA helped develop Windows VISTA

[Snowygrouch]

My advice: Dont buy Windows VISTA
---------------------------------------------------
NSA helped Microsoft make Vista secure
Revelations about NSA's involvement in Vista's development raise concerns about possible 'back-door' access to data by the spy agency
http://www.infoworld.com/article/07/01/10/HNnsamadevistasecure_1.html
By Robert McMillan, IDG News Service

January 10, 2007


The U.S. agency best known for eavesdropping on telephone calls had a hand in the development of Microsoft's Vista operating system, Microsoft confirmed Tuesday.

The National Security Agency (NSA) stepped in to help Microsoft develop a configuration of its next-generation operating system that would meet U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) requirements, said NSA Spokesman Ken White.

[Talkback: Are you concerned about NSA's involvement with Vista security?]

This is not the first time the secretive agency has been brought in to consult with private industry on operating system security, White said, but it is the first time the NSA has worked with a vendor prior to the release of an operating system.

By getting involved early in the process, the NSA helped Microsoft ensure that it was delivering a product that was both secure and compatible with existing government software, he said.

"This allows us to ensure that the off-the-shelf security configuration that the DOD customer receives is at a level that meets our standards," White said. "It just makes a lot more sense to be involved up-front, than it does to have the tail wag the dog."

The NSA's involvement in Vista was first reported Tuesday by The Washington Post .

The NSA has provided guidance on how best to secure Microsoft's Windows XP and Windows 2000 operating systems in the past. The agency is also credited with reviewing the Vista Security Guide published on Microsoft's Web site.

Microsoft declined to allow its executives to be interviewed for this story. But in a statement the company said that it asked a number of entities and government agencies to review Vista, including the NSA, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).

Still, the NSA's involvement in Vista raises red flags for some. "There could be some good reason for concern," said Marc Rotenberg, executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC). "Some bells are going to go off when the government's spy agency is working with the private sector's top developer of operating systems."

Part of this concern may stem from the NSA's reported historical interest in gaining "back-door" access to encrypted data produced by products from U.S. computer companies like Microsoft.

In 1999, U.S. Congressman Curt Weldon said that "high level deal-making on access to encrypted data had taken place between the NSA and IBM and Microsoft," according to EPIC's Web site.

With Vista expected to eventually power the majority of the world's personal computers, it would be tempting for the government agency to push for a way to gain access to data on these systems, privacy advocates say.

The NSA provided guidance on Vista's security configuration, but it did not open any back doors to Windows, White said. "This is not the development of code here. This is the assisting in the development of a security configuration," he said.

While the NSA is best known for its surveillance activities, the work with Microsoft is being done in accordance with the NSA's second mandate: to protect the nation's information system, White said. "This is the other half of the NSA mission that you never hear much about," he said. "All you ever hear about is foreign signal intelligence. The other half is information assurance."

[Banish]

Get bloody Linux!! Dont buy any american *.

[blackcat]

UBUNTU!!

[Jim]

... and for the less technically savvy ... Mac OS X.

[Annie]

Has anyone else read "Digital Fortress" by Dan Brown?

Basically he says that the NSA was involved with the development of a ubiquitous computer operating system from the word go....

[Thermate]

I think its safe to assume that if the NSA wants to root your box they will, no matter what OS your running...

[TonyGosling]

Now it's official. Microsoft begging us to get Vista and ditch XP for our own 'security'. How oportunistic - spinning a vulnerability into making us even more vulnerable. You gorra gorra be joking Bill.

After Google hack, Microsoft asks users to abandon IE6, XP
http://arstechnica.com/microsoft/news/2010/01/microsoft-wants-you-to-d itch-windows-xp-and-ie6-for-security.ars‎
By Emil Protalinski | Last updated January 18, 2010
Microsoft is using a widely publicized flaw in Internet Explorer as a way to push users to upgrade both their browsers and operating systems.

see also
Strategy Boutique
A notoriously creepy Malthusian thinktank appears to have provided the inspiration for the design of Google's new web browser, Chrome. The icon for Chrome seems to be little more than a holistic logo of The Club of Rome.

[scienceplease 2]