How The CIA Duped The Soviets' Line X Network

sundling writes "There are interesting articles here(1) and here(2) on software espionage against the Soviets. In the Ronald Reagan era, a Soviet spy network (Line X Network) was looking to steal software to run oil pipelines. The CIA found out what they were trying to steal and fed them bogus versions. This is of course not the only time the CIA has done this. ... An article on the ethics of programming mentions this very topic and the moral implications." Update: 03/02 09:22 GMT by T : Oops -- this is a dupe.

Comments

You don't know the half of it...

[andy55]

I'm in the US submarine force and I'll just suggest that the US is pretty good at getting a job done when (1) they want it done and when (2) the doors are closed to the public.

Separately, learn some of the facts surrounding JFK's assassination (and the likes who go to no end to increase their power) and you'll get a feel for what goes on behind closed doors. It's very depressing.

The Case for Open Source Software.

[torpor]

If this doesn't prove the case for open source software, I don't know what will.

Those Russkies should've broken out their debuggers on these binaries before putting them into operation ... at the very least.