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US and Russia Set Up Cyber Cold War Hotline
judgecorp writes "In a move reminiscent of the 1960s Cold War days, Presidents Obama and Putin have set up a hotline between their respective cyber-security authorities, to defuse any possible crises and prevent them from escalating into an online equivalent of the Cuban Missile Crisis. 'We recognise that threats to or in the use of ICTs include political-military and criminal threats, as well as threats of a terrorist nature, and are some of the most serious national and international security challenges we face in the 21st Century,' a joint statement from the presidents read."
The Seal Bug was just one bug. Later, the Soviets kindly built us an embassy with bugs built into the very concrete of the walls.
Do you really think the USA side would need specific hardware installed from the Russian side to setup a hotline (or vice versa).....Or do you think they would use their own hardware and it is just the actual line that is common?
In fact, yes, they do, because the US doesn't trust that the Russian encryption isn't crackable, and vice versa. So as of 2010, there's been a joint encryption agreement in place for the White House/Kremlin hotline, and the same technology is being deployed in this case as well. Specifically the GRU and SVR in Russia, and their opposite numbers in the US. The agreed upon solution was to use cryptosystems from both countries on the communications.
"More recently, the United States and Russia agreed on new joint encryption arrangements for the forty-year-old hotline between the Kremlin and the White House. Moreover, American and Russian banks already cooperate in secure digital communications for international transfers of staggeringly large sums of money."
See this 2010 report for details, specifically, the executive summary beginning on page 7:
http://www.ewi.info/system/files/USRussiaCyber_WEB.pdf