Cyberkidd writes "According to CNN, one of the NSA's main spy computers crashed for three days, and has not been completely fixed yet. No details as to the type of computer, but one can only wonder if it was a Microsoft Blue Screen..."
The NSA is all about controlled image. Most government agencies are--I've heard some rather interesting stories of military coverups--but the NSA is particularly secretive.
You don't get referred to as No Such Agency for no reason;-)
If the NSA is making this announcement, it's because A) They're making a statement about the difficult situation that export regulations are going to put them in(remember--they're the ones who get the flack when they're given an uncrackable signal) and B) They want more money, or at least their existing funds not to go away. As long as their situation is inadequate, all those "one time upgrade" budget justifications can survive. As soon as they appear in full working order, it's cool to take a few points off the top from them.
Ah, the machinations of government...
Yours Truly,
Dan Kaminsky DoxPara Research http://www.doxpara.com
You'd think that Slashdot posts were a little off-
by
extrasolar
·
· Score: 5
...and the moon isn't full. But I beleive that the CNN article was a clearly direct attempt to stir up another Slashdot post. Then once the story hit Slashdot, the operatives under cover in foreign lands beep back *using Slashdot* for their medium of communication using some mind-boggling form code-encryption that appears to us as First Posts and random references to Natalie Portman.
NSA, CIA, and mere mortals, I'M ON TO YOU!!!
Muah hah hahahahahah!
The Truth (Might Be) Out There
by
rjh
·
· Score: 5
Just a few thoughts on the subject. Feel free to moderate me as (+1, -1, +2, -pi, Moderation As Rambling As The Content Is).
1. For the last two or three months the NSA has been playing "woe is me". Check out the press they've received recently; most egregiously was a Newsweek article which was very possibly written by the NSA. The NSA knows that the best PR is no PR -- the more people who watch the NSA, the harder it is for them to do their job. If people must watch the NSA, best if they point, laugh and make rude noises to mock them... after all, if the NSA is a laughingstock, nobody will take them seriously, which makes it easier for them to do their job.
2. Never believe anything the NSA tells you without independent confirmation. If the NSA feels it's in the national security of the United States to lie to you, they'll do so with a straight face and a clear conscience. The NSA says that some computers went down? Great -- big deal, computers go down all the time. "No," the NSA says, "these were important computers." Great -- that happens all the time, too. What, don't you guys have backup systems? A budget larger than every other intelligence agency combined and you can't afford redundant, independent computers for your mission-critical tasks?
Something in there just doesn't sound right to me.
3. The ability to process information is now more important than the ability to collect it. The article says that an NSA official downplayed the incident, saying that data was still collected -- it just wasn't processed and it'll have to be looked at later. Sounds like it wasn't too bad after all, right?
No. It means the NSA was blind, deaf and dumb, and not only that, they will likely forever be blind, deaf and dumb to events that happened during those few days.
NASA still has data from the Apollo Program which they haven't had the time or resources to look through and catalog yet. The NSA collects orders of magnitude more data than NASA, and unless they've got some incredibly advanced form of storage technology, they simply cannot store data for very long. They do not have the manpower or the resources to look through their backlog; with the scope and prevalence of digital communications today, they're drowning -- they must be drowning -- in a tidal wave of noise searching for the life-preserver of signal. It's a Herculean task.
... Add all of the above together and what do you get? I don't know. If I knew, I'd be Bruce Schneier.
Slashdot Mirror
The NSA is all about controlled image. Most government agencies are--I've heard some rather interesting stories of military coverups--but the NSA is particularly secretive.
;-)
You don't get referred to as No Such Agency for no reason
If the NSA is making this announcement, it's because A) They're making a statement about the difficult situation that export regulations are going to put them in(remember--they're the ones who get the flack when they're given an uncrackable signal) and B) They want more money, or at least their existing funds not to go away. As long as their situation is inadequate, all those "one time upgrade" budget justifications can survive. As soon as they appear in full working order, it's cool to take a few points off the top from them.
Ah, the machinations of government...
Yours Truly,
Dan Kaminsky
DoxPara Research
http://www.doxpara.com
...and the moon isn't full. But I beleive that the CNN article was a clearly direct attempt to stir up another Slashdot post. Then once the story hit Slashdot, the operatives under cover in foreign lands beep back *using Slashdot* for their medium of communication using some mind-boggling form code-encryption that appears to us as First Posts and random references to Natalie Portman.
NSA, CIA, and mere mortals, I'M ON TO YOU!!!
Muah hah hahahahahah!
Just a few thoughts on the subject. Feel free to moderate me as (+1, -1, +2, -pi, Moderation As Rambling As The Content Is).
1. For the last two or three months the NSA has been playing "woe is me". Check out the press they've received recently; most egregiously was a Newsweek article which was very possibly written by the NSA. The NSA knows that the best PR is no PR -- the more people who watch the NSA, the harder it is for them to do their job. If people must watch the NSA, best if they point, laugh and make rude noises to mock them... after all, if the NSA is a laughingstock, nobody will take them seriously, which makes it easier for them to do their job.
2. Never believe anything the NSA tells you without independent confirmation. If the NSA feels it's in the national security of the United States to lie to you, they'll do so with a straight face and a clear conscience. The NSA says that some computers went down? Great -- big deal, computers go down all the time. "No," the NSA says, "these were important computers." Great -- that happens all the time, too. What, don't you guys have backup systems? A budget larger than every other intelligence agency combined and you can't afford redundant, independent computers for your mission-critical tasks?
Something in there just doesn't sound right to me.
3. The ability to process information is now more important than the ability to collect it. The article says that an NSA official downplayed the incident, saying that data was still collected -- it just wasn't processed and it'll have to be looked at later. Sounds like it wasn't too bad after all, right?
No. It means the NSA was blind, deaf and dumb, and not only that, they will likely forever be blind, deaf and dumb to events that happened during those few days.
NASA still has data from the Apollo Program which they haven't had the time or resources to look through and catalog yet. The NSA collects orders of magnitude more data than NASA, and unless they've got some incredibly advanced form of storage technology, they simply cannot store data for very long. They do not have the manpower or the resources to look through their backlog; with the scope and prevalence of digital communications today, they're drowning -- they must be drowning -- in a tidal wave of noise searching for the life-preserver of signal. It's a Herculean task.
... Add all of the above together and what do you get? I don't know. If I knew, I'd be Bruce Schneier.