Slashdot Mirror
The NSA Uses the Same Chat Protocol As Hackers
rossgneumann writes NSA documents obtained by Edward Snowden and reported on by Der Spiegel on Sunday reveal that the agency communicates internally with Jabber, an open source messaging service used by hackers and activists trying to skirt the NSA's internet surveillance dragnet. A document outlining the NSA's Scarletfever program—a "message driven cryptologic exploitation service" designed as part of the larger Longhaul initiative, a program that collects data and finds ways to break its encryption—contains a curious point buried near the end: "Jabber Chat Room: TBD."
Whatsapp is a jabber client as well. I fail to see why this is surprising connection. Seems more like click bait.
The force that blew the Big Bang continues to accelerate.
i bet those sons of bitches are using imap and ethernet too! just like hackers!
Wow, that article said absolutely nothing interesting.
The gist: jabber is a widely used protocol, there is a widely used way to encrypt it,and the NSA has played around with it.
Also what is the deal with every website now using this weird scrolling hackery. I find it very unpleasant.
Is this like nerd, where everyone is calling themselves that?
Because XMPP (Jabber prior to it's adoption as a standard) is/has been used by google, plus about a hundred other chat services, including Kik (albeit a proprietary derivative, seems to be what all the kids are using nowadays).
So really it's less a story of NSA using the same service as hackers and more 'Whoa! NSA uses the same chat protocols as *EVERYONE ELSE DOES*"
What a non-story.
They probably use the same email system hackers do!
NSA employees enjoy the same daily disturbing bodily functions as hackers; they poop...
So does Google Talk and Facebook Messenger and countless other chat systems. Way to go article. Next you'll be telling us that the NSA uses the same operating systems as hackers (OMG LINUXESSES N SHIT)
I have used Lync mainly since the big Windows-7 upgrade came through. Jabber clients are available as well. We even do email, phone calls, and face-to-face meetings! It's another organization that needs to communicate internally.
But when we know we're doing illegal things like spying on my old girlfriend and her new boyfriend (at least 99% of my day-to-day activity) we use invisible paper and quantum telephones and sign into the computer as 'guest' so we can get away with it. God dammit when will people realize they have more important things to do.
I'll bet the NSA uses Linux, too. Isn't that the hacking OS that uses text on a black screen?
And FTP, that's how the hackers move their files around. I'll bet NSA uses that too.
Both the NSA and Hackers are using Keyboards to input data into computers.
Seriously, Jabber/XMPP are well known standards for implementing internet messaging.
This whole article smells like misinformation to work the media up into a frenzy. I don't see how these revelations can accomplish anything positive.
“Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
“Shocking revelations have come out today that the NSA is using the same kind of computers and Internet technologies as hackers, criminals and even paedophiles! The NSA are known to use PCs and operating systems such as Microsoft Windows - a paeophiles favourite - and even Linux - beloved by hackers. The NSA even has spent money on making Linux more secure, which may help thwart law enforcement from investigating computers used by criminals. Further reports suggest the NSA also regularly use TCP in a variety of ways. TCP is known to be heavily deployed by many criminals worldwide. We contacted the NSA and asked them to comment, but their spokesperson responded only with a sneering "Oh for fucks sake" before hanging up the phone.”
I use Friend/Foe + mod-point modifiers as a karma/reputation system.
They're using the same protocol called TCP/IP too, I hear. There should be an investigation immediately.
NSA uses same protocols on their network as everyone else (including hackers). So is this stunning revelation now what passes here as news? Is this just a slow news day or has Slashdot taken another step down?
TBD
An AC in a previous Snowden story posted this link:
Grant Snowden Clemency
You can sign this petition to pressure the government to pardon Snowden, so he can come back to the states a free man.
Please share this link on your other forums. It is the least you can do for him, after all he has sacrificed for you.
I think we should name the NSA's jabber chatroom for them! I was going to throw "SexyFederalAgents" out there, but it's really not my best work.
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
...oh, the same protocol Cisco uses in their chat solution ?
The masters of the internet have their own slang you know... Like this "T.B.D." in the article, I hear, it means Totally Broken Dumbshit.
N.S.A. of course still means Nasty Sex Agency which is much better than the G.C.H.Q. because everyone the inside knows that it means Geriatric Cunt Humping Quiverers.
Now, get back to work, you lazy internet surfers!
-The great and magnificiant anonymous bastard
I submit the Anonymous Coward's hypothesis:
Every single Slashdot article has at least one post asking if today is a slow news day.
Please attempt to disprove.
sunk
It little behooves the best of us to comment on the rest of us.
This petition is hosted by Snowden's legal advisers, who happen to be a political lobby with real economic assets. So, it bears a little more weight than the average Internet petition.
Could this mis-information be designed to scare people away from jabber towards their own protocol? I think we used to call this a 'joe job' in the old days.,
Yes, the math geeks may speak to each other that way but they are run by a bunch of horse judges and cheerleaders that just happen to know the right people (as seen by how a contractor could get hold of so much) so it's probably a safe bet that it's in the clear instead of best practice.
After the star trek set designer getting called in the only way to go is down. The Chinese or whoever would have just needed some way to pander to a huge ego to get a backdoor into the place.
dey be haxx0rz
...for the next exciting article, "Cops Use Guns Too!"
~Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit, but Wisdom is knowing not to put it in a fruit salad.
Now each employee of NSA can be compromised and exploited. :-)
Do you remember the Joker's first scene in the bank in 'The Dark Night'!
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. ;-)
Da
Isn't [Linux] the hacking OS that uses text on a black screen?
I'm sorry. You must have Linux confused with Windows Server Core.
Wow. People use Jabber? Yes, people use Jabber.
This is not news, not now, not ever. Jabber and XMPP is a real thing, much more real than IRC. Please move along and report something worthwhile, folks.
Kriston
*nudge* *nudge* http://incubator.apache.org/wa... *wink* *wink*
interactive hologram, or it didn't happen.
All of the dod and intelligence community use jabber. Every domain, every cocom, every subject has servers/rooms.