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NSA Bought Exploit Service From VUPEN

Posted by Soulskill on from the they-get-by-with-a-little-help-from-vupen dept.

New submitter Reverand Dave writes "The U.S. government – particularly the National Security Agency – is often regarded as having advanced offensive cybersecurity capabilities. But that doesn't mean that they're above bringing in a little outside help when it's needed. A newly public contract shows that the NSA last year bought a subscription to the zero-day service sold by French security firm VUPEN. The contract, made public through a Freedom of Information Act request by MuckRock, an open government project that publishes a variety of such documents, shows that the NSA bought VUPEN's services on Sept. 14, 2012. The NSA contract is for a one-year subscription to the company's 'binary analysis and exploits service.'"

6 of 81 comments (clear)

  1. The truth gets out... by CajunArson · · Score: 5, Interesting

    It's not as conspiracy-theory cool as magical backdoors implanted in every piece of hardware, but this is how the NSA actually breaks into systems... they do it the same way everyone else does, just on a much larger scale and with even less fear of legal repercussions that the cyber criminals.

    --
    AntiFA: An abbreviation for Anti First Amendment.
    1. Re:The truth gets out... by khasim · · Score: 4, Interesting

      This is a SECURITY firm, not a backroom russian exploits dealer, ...

      Bullshit.

      From TFA:

      VUPEN is one of a handful of companies that sell software exploits and vulnerability details.

      Just because they're French instead of Russian does not change the fact that they're selling exploits.

    2. Re:The truth gets out... by Virtucon · · Score: 4, Interesting

      VUPEN sells access to their vulnerabilities on a sliding scale and It's well known that governments buy services from them. That's not news, but for the life of me I don't know why Cisco, Microsoft and other big players just don't pay up to get at least some insight into how these guys are finding exposures in their systems. It would seem to me money well spent if they did and at least closed up these holes or made VUPEN's job harder, making it tougher for these data stealing, scum sucking government agencies breaking into everything and anything.

      --
      Harrison's Postulate - "For every action there is an equal and opposite criticism"
  2. NO No no. You ATTACK enemies. You HELP friends. by dweller_below · · Score: 2, Interesting

    We finally found the NSA mentioned in the same sentence as an actual, tangible, external threat. And now we see that instead of attacking them, they are giving them money?!? How can they get confused on this? You ATTACK enemies. You HELP friends.

    The Exploit marketplace (here symbolized by VUPEN) is possibly the greatest threat to to existence of the internet. You can fight mistakes. You can fight attackers. But it is almost impossible to fight economics. The exploit market is creating an economy that creates and enables exploit. It is a great driving force reconfiguring the Internet for Attack, instead of Defense.

    VUPEN is a worthy opponent. The NSA should hack them front, back and center. They should never pat them on the head and give them money.

    It looks like the Exploit Marketplace was dreamed up, founded and sustained by the NSA. The leaked Black Budget showed that the NSA devotes huge resources to purchasing exploit. We have also learned that the NSA's budget included vast resources to create exploit:

    "The NSA spends $250m a year on a program which, among other goals, works with technology companies to 'covertly influence' their product designs." (From last weeks New York Times and Guardian articles)

    So, the NSA creates exploit in everything they can influence. And they can influence almost everything. The NSA purchases exploit. Many times, they must be purchasing info on the exploits that they created. They preserve exploit. They mask everything in secrecy. And it all enhances the exploit marketplace. The NSA is no longer debating the Equities issue (https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2008/05/dualuse_technol_1.html ) They have only token interest in defending the Internet.

    If we could just get the NSA out of the exploit market, the whole thing would probably collapse like 2008's Housing bubble.

  3. Good by the+eric+conspiracy · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I paid a visit to Northern Va a few weeks ago. The place was crawling with construction projects and high end malls.

    That I am paying for.

    Using Vupen actually sounds like a fairly efficient use of taxpayer money.

  4. So they don't by them AS THEMSELVES. by Ungrounded+Lightning · · Score: 3, Interesting

    for the life of me I don't know why Cisco, Microsoft and other big players just don't pay up to get at least some insight into how these guys are finding exposures in their systems

    I would assume that VUPEN would refuse to sell to Microsoft and Cisco on account of it diminishing the value of the zero-days they're holding.

    Or at least not sell them the best stuff.

    Obviously, if Cisco, Microsoft, etc. were going to buy this service, they wouldn't do it (only) as themselves, acting directly. They'd do it through a front, to insure they got the same things the bad guys were getting.

    Just as a startup did, about a decade ago, when I was designing a next-generation routing chip, and we needed to obtain equipment from Cisco for testing it for function and compatibility.

    It took two half-rack, 3/4 megabuck, top-of-the-line Cisco routers to drive it properly. We bought them through another company on a very hush-hush basis, just to be sure Cisco wouldn't be tempted to send us defective or gimmicked equipment, not support it properly, or hold up shipment and slip our schedule.

    --
    Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way