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Hyperspace Cafe Metaphysical Forum > Hyperspace Member Forums > Science & Technology > NSA and Microsoft Worked Together on Windows Vista Security |
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| NSA and Microsoft Worked Together on Windows Vista Security - Science & Technology - Hyperspace Member Forums - Hyperspace Cafe Metaphysical Forum | |||||||||||||||
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Richard Seeker 
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by Robert McMillan 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. This is not the first time the secretive agency has been brought in to consult 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 website. Microsoft declined to allow its executives to be interviewed for this story. But in a statement, the company said 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 "backdoor" 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 website. 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." -Robert McMillan, IDG News Service (San Francisco Bureau) http://www.cio.com/blog_view.html?CID=28077
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William Moderator 
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From what ive read Microsoft and the Govt have been hand in hand from the start....Thats why there are Better Operating systems that the public is not using en mass like windows.... All Windows platforms have back doors from what ive read.!! oh brother, big brother!
____________________ I was trying to daydream, but my mind kept wandering. |
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Richard Seeker
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I’ve been debating whether or not I should upgrade to Vista and I think I’m going to skip it because of the hefty hardware requirements and all the potential problems that come along with upgrading. Now reading about all this NSA stuff is another reason to skip it. I’ll keep using XP until I need another computer and then switch to Mac. I expect a lot of people will switch and this may be a good time to buy Apple stock. 
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Astrojewels Super Moderator 
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I have a friend who wrote to Microsoft with the constant problems he has had with his computer and windows. He has tried to fix these errors and mentioned some things that most would not and ended his letter by saying “it was time for an apple, and I am not hungry!” he is a funny bloke and I wonder what kind of reply they will have for him.
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Richard Seeker
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Here's 10 more reasons not to get Vista. by Ashton Mills It's all too easy to get caught up in the million dollar marketing engine as we approach the consumer release of Windows Vista, so lets not forget that it isn't the second coming, and by all counts is an upgrade you can do without. There are many lists out there on why to get Vista, so here's ours on why not to. 1. You don't actually need it -- No, think about this. Vista doesn't do anything you can't already do with XP. About the only significant shift requiring Vista is DirextX10, but as no titles support it yet and, according to John Carmack (the godfather of modern gaming) there's no need to yet either. 2. Cost $$ -- It's so blindingly obvious, most people will be blinded to it. You already have XP, and alternatives like Linux are free. If you really want to throw money away, go give it to a local charity. 3. On that note, it's outrageously overpriced -- at least in Australia. As revealed in the current APC, even after taking into account the profit margin Microsoft Australia previously applied to XP (as well as exchange rates, as you would expect), Australians are paying hundreds of dollars more for their copies than in the US. In fact, it's cheaper for Australians to buy Vista direct by mail order from the States. If you think Microsoft Australia is reaming us, vote with your wallet. 4. Upgrading hardware -- XP was demanding at release, but Vista more so. If you have an older machine that struggles with XP at the best of times, Vista is out of your ballpark unless you spend even more money to upgrade. If this is you, see point 1. 5. Driver support -- Key hardware like video and sound is crippled at the moment -- while Nvidia is working furiously to get a stable driver for the 8800 out by the 30th, there's still no SLI support for any of the Nvidia range. And thanks to the removal of hardware accelerated 3D sound in Vista, Creative's popular DirectSound based EAX no longer works at all, muting this feature for just about all gaming titles on the market today. Creative is in the process of coding a layer for its drivers to translate EAX calls to the OpenAL API which is seperate from Vista, but going by past experience with Creative drivers we won't see these any time soon. 6. Applications that don't work -- there's been plenty of coverage about applications that won't work without a vendor update. These include anti-virus, backup and security software such as those from Symantec, Sophos and ilk; CD and DVD burning tools like the suite from Nero need updated versions to work; and even basic disk management and partitioning tools such as Paragon's Hard Disk Manager are awaiting an update for Vista to be compatible. How many more will fail as Vista enters mainstream? Even Firefox has issues with Vista. http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/2.0.0.1/releasenotes/#vista 7. It's a big fat target -- with a new and untested in the global wild architecture, virus and malware authors are going to work overtime exploiting the holes Microsoft missed. In fact it's already happening. Loath though I am to use the word 'security' and 'Windows' in the same sentence, Windows XP has at least been patched to the hilt and can be used with a plethora of reasonably effective security tools that work now, without waiting for an update down the track. 8. UAC -- Oh yes, the Microsoft solution for an operating system where mutli-user was an afterthought. Sure, you can disable it, but the OS then makes it clear then that the onus is on the user for any damaging programs that got to run with permissions, rather than with Windows in the first place. If you do have it on, it is going to annoy the hell out of you. It pops up far too frequently, and even on a fast PC, the UAC screen takes too long to come up and disappear. 9. DRM -- And to a lesser degree TPM -- were made for the RIAAs and MPAAs of this world, and the even tighter integration of copy protection mechanisms and 'Windows Rights Management' into vista are nothing more than a liability to you, the user. This ComputerWorld piece says is succinctly: 'it's hard to sing the praises of technology designed to make life harder for its users.' As for TPM, this short animated video shows just how far the rabbit hole goes. And to think you pay for the privilege of having the use of media you purchased and own dictated by third parties, even on your own system. 10. The draconian license -- somehow, Microsoft has forgotten that it built its business from products that empowered its customers, not hampered them. Of course, we forget that Microsoft's customers aren't you and I, afterall (see point 9). Aside from the backward thinking that is licensing, and not actually owning, your software new terms with Vista include being able to transfer the license only once; half the limit compared to XP for Home Basic and Premium on how many machines can connect to yours for sharing, printing and accessing the Internet; limits on the number of devices that can use Vista's Media Center features; activation and validation governing your ability to upgrade hardware and use Windows itself; and outlawing the use of Home Basic and Premium with virtualisation software, and Ultimate only if DRM enabled content and applications aren't used. But then again, who reads these anyway? http://apcmag.com/5049/10_reasons_not_to_get_vista
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Richard Seeker
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What Really Happened posted a link to a long list of reasons not to get Vista. Click the link below. A Cost Analysis of Windows Vista Content Protection Windows Vista includes an extensive reworking of core OS elements in order to provide content protection for so-called “premium content”, typically HD data from Blu-Ray and HD-DVD sources. Providing this protection incurs considerable costs in terms of system performance, system stability, technical support overhead, and hardware and software cost. These issues affect not only users of Vista but the entire PC industry, since the effects of the protection measures extend to cover all hardware and software that will ever come into contact with Vista, even if it's not used directly with Vista (for example hardware in a Macintosh computer or on a Linux server). This document analyses the cost involved in Vista's content protection, and the collateral damage that this incurs throughout the computer industry.
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Richard Seeker
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Vista fails to 'wow' the online world From Yahoo News While Microsoft trumpeted Vista worldwide on Tuesday, the Internet abounded with postings from people unimpressed or downright disappointed with the new operating system. As Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates headed a multi-million dollar "The Wow Starts Now" ad campaign for Vista, computer aficionados online countered "Yawn, not wow." Headlines on weblogs and news websites included "Think whisper, not bang" and "Why you don't need Vista now." Critiques mocked Vista's grand promotion campaign, contending the system that Microsoft spent five years and six billion dollars to create had little to offer that hadn't been available in Apple's Macintosh computers for years. "Not that I have a hate-on for Microsoft or anything... but I think this Vista was just a joke," wrote a blogger at Microsoft-operated Windows Live Spaces website. "Just like (Windows) XP it's gonna take like two years to work out all the kinks. And by the way, I'm still finding problems with XP!" Numerous patches, fixes, and updates have been released for the Windows XP operating system that Vista is replacing since its release in 2001. Unlike the releases of Nintendo's Wii and Sony's PlayStation 3 video game consoles in November, throngs did not queue up at stores to buy Vista when it went on sale after the stroke of midnight on Monday, bloggers observed. "In fact, it was kind of the opposite," a Tech Blog author identified only as Josh wrote. "No one really cared." Bloggers complained that Vista was expensive and slowed computers that lacked upgraded memory and graphics components. "Your software won't work," Chris Pirillo wrote while providing "tips" on Vista in a Windows Fanatics weblog. "Consider that a huge tip." "Assume that if something works in Windows XP, there's a good chance it will not work the same way in Windows Vista." Vista also scanned computers to insure film or music files there were legally copied, bloggers complained. "They can search your computer via the Internet and delete any illegal files including music downloads," Josh said in a posting. "My privacy has been breached." Microsoft has proclaimed Vista its most secure and thoroughly-tested operating system release. Webloggers advised readers to put off buying Vista until flaws had a chance to be discovered and fixed. Online complaints included needing to upgrade most old software along with hardware to work with Vista. Major computer game publisher WildTangent has accused Vista of "breaking" many popular computer games. Some bloggers praised Vista features such as photo handling, speech recognition and desktop search but contended that Visto offered nothing revolutionary. "Much of the new goodness has been available on the Macintosh for years," Adam Hertz wrote in an online posting. "But, for those who wouldn't consider crossing that particular chasm, Vista seems like a good thing." Windows XP users would likely be pleased with Vista's enhanced features, but should be prepared for a tedious upgrading process, bloggers said. Approximately 95 percent of the 900 million computers in the world run on Windows operating systems. http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070131/tc_afp/usitsoftwareinternetcompanymicrosoftvista;_ylt=Apa3M5DYR8L8FJm6QOszXMkjtBAF;_ylu=X3oDMTA0cDJlYmhvBHNlYwM-
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Richard Seeker
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More bad stories are coming out.  Windows Vista Hacked Within Hours Of Launch MS Vista Exploit Allows Myspace Sites to Control Your Computer Is MS new "Vista" both garbage and dangerous? VISTA security by the NSA Windows Defender Lets Spyware Slip onto Vista PCs
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William Moderator
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Ha haaaa 
____________________ I was trying to daydream, but my mind kept wandering. |
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Richard Seeker
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I was use to seeing Windows get better and better but it sounds like Microsoft screwed up big time on Vista. The publicity over the next few months should be entertaining. 
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William Moderator
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Yeah, youtube has alot of funny vids about Vista
____________________ I was trying to daydream, but my mind kept wandering. |
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Sily Von Sily d'Wily du Eden MD 
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My experience - - - I'd be very thankful if no one says "I told you so" after you read this post.... :pray: I bought Vista yesterday. Tried to install it myself. I ran upgrade advisor before I started and it said my computer could handle Home Basic. Well, I didn't buy Home Basic, I bought Home Premium. I made it 90 minutes into the install and then started to get the blue screen of death over and over, constant re-booting on it's own. Something about a physical memory dump..... I guess I don't have enough memory or hard drive space. I had to do a Windows rollback to XP, which thankfully worked..... but I really want to try Vista if I can. I'm taking the laptop into the shop tomorrow. They will install for me. I'm interested now to see how much of a disaster this is going to turn into.... I MEAN, what I meant to say is, I'm interested to see how cool Vista is going to be once I get it up and running. :doh:
____________________ "I heard the music, and I wrote to it. Some people beat drums. Some people strum guitars. It’s all in the music you hear." - HST |
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Richard Seeker
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Sily, it sounds like you got brave trying Vista. I’ve been watching user reports about Vista and it sounds like it runs well as long as you a fairly new computer with at least 1 gig of ram and a dedicated video card with 128 megs of memory. Some people upgrading from XP run into driver problems from older programs and need to upgrade them. People with laptops say Vista is slower to boot and eats the battery faster than XP. Using a hybrid hard drive with flash memory and using readyboost is said to speed it up.
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William Moderator
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Sily, let us know how Vista works out for ya!
____________________ I was trying to daydream, but my mind kept wandering. |
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Richard Seeker
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More bad new for MS. Iranian hackers possess Windows Vista Tehran, Feb 5, Taliya News – Cracked version of Windows Vista is already available at Iranian software markets. Less than two months after presentation of last edited version of Microsoft Company’s latest operating system, Windows Vista and despite all anti-crack locks installed by that system’s designers, Iranian hackers managed to beat Microsoft’s anti-copying tricks and present the “fully cracked” version of this new Windows software to their Iranian clients! The copied version of Vista is presently presented by an Iranian software company and provides the possibility for its owner to have a private “Serial Number” and thus, to “legalize!” his cracked Windows copy. The retail sale price of the Iranian cracked version of Windows Vista is 80,000 Rials (around US $8) while this good’s original version is sold around $650 at world markets! This version of Windows is the first in its kind that enables the users to register his Windows “fully legally!!” at Microsoft website and take full advantage of that company’s after sale services, thus sacking over $640 of illegal benefit! We have still received no news on Microsoft officials’ reaction to the cracking of their final version of Windows Vista. http://www.taliyanews.com/en/archive/2007/02/iranian_hackers_possess_window.php
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Sily Von Sily d'Wily du Eden MD
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Here's a tiny update: The Old Grey Mare (not me, I'm referring to my 2-year old laptop) is in *the shop* being worked on. The techies called me today and are going to try and install Vista on my 'puter --- however my graphics card can't be upgraded so I won't be able to use the AREO 3D fancy stuff. RATS! :crybaby: I'll post again when I get the laptop home and I've taken it for a spin... :nod: Right now I'm using G-man's desktop PC and I'm breaking out into hives. I'm not a desktop fan at all, but I'm glad at least his is working good and I can surf around a little tonight.
____________________ "I heard the music, and I wrote to it. Some people beat drums. Some people strum guitars. It’s all in the music you hear." - HST |
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Richard Seeker
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It sounds like you have an intergraded graphics chip. A lot of laptops are like that because they didn’t need anything more than that to run XP. I imagine that will change with Vista being out now. I use a laptop too and I know what you mean about preferring them over desktops. I like the freedom of using it where I want instead of being tied to a desk and chair. 
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Sily Von Sily d'Wily du Eden MD
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I know what you mean - I have a set-up with my laptop that is sooooooo much more comfortable than sitting at a desk. I have my laptop back. I have a lot to learn on this new O/S. I am not familiar with where many of my files are now. I don't think there's a My Documents, which I used to have all my stuff in. I love the screensaver Aurora that comes with Vista. I love some of the new wallpapers. The softer sounds are really nice. Many of my programs were not compatible and had to be removed. Beside not being able to install Vista myself, losing some of my programs has been a huge MINUS for me. I had to download a Vista compatible anti-virus software when I got home with the laptop, as I was told the one I had wouldn't work w/Vista. I'm thankful K-Meleon still works as I don't like Microsoft's Explorer.
____________________ "I heard the music, and I wrote to it. Some people beat drums. Some people strum guitars. It’s all in the music you hear." - HST |
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Get Boldened Hyperspace Warrior
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They'll probably have a virtual emulator out soon. Or an integrated data structure that allows the installation of anything under Windows Vista into a virtual registries and archived Program Files. Then the shortcut to a software may be run like a Windows XP/98/95 from file properties (they have that on XP). As a learning programmer, I'm 70% sure this is possible, but I don't know if this is part of their rosters. It will also be a matter of time before most laptops and desktops are Windows Vistas and then Windows XP prices will drop tremendously. Microsoft always have a way of doing this. I hate it that I have to constantly adapt to a new OS every four or five years. But as hardware and memory improves, the potential for better OS and software also increases. Microsoft is not being crude. That's just the reality of things because they are in a public market and they can't afford to lose their position to other companies that decid to take the lead. Unfortunately, as an OS change, most likely, so does the way previous software uses memory and data storing. The result is software companies need to release more compatible versions. This will become a nuisance to most early buyers. But we're fortunate that Microsoft functions like a monopoly, or else buying software and games would be even more complicated. Last edited on Fri Feb 9th, 2007 05:21 am by Get Boldened |
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Get Boldened Hyperspace Warrior
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I prefer laptops as well. I really began using one when I started college last year. But I will never switch back. Whenever I returned home from college, I'd just leave the Desktop in limbo because it just isn't as practical, portable, comfortable, or easy on your eyes and body, as a laptop. It also does not heat up or gather dust as much. Many peers have to disagree with preferring laptops because they love to play the new pc games that require a Desktop. I don't play much of those games, so I can't say for them what.
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