Re: German armed forces ban MS software, citing NSA snooping

[Davide Ferrara <dferrara () comsecconsulting com>]

Seems to me like some intel has either recently been confirmed or come to
top people's attention. This is the second article about a government
ceasing to use MS due to security/snooping concerns in the last few days.
The other country was China.  I wonder who is next.  I wonder the impact
this will have on MS and on security in general.

Has anyone else noticed a trend in this, or know more?

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> -----Original Message-----
> From: ISN Mailing List [mailto:ISN () SECURITYFOCUS COM]On Behalf Of Micha
> Schellingerhout
> Sent: Saturday 17 March 2001 21.40
> To: ISN () SECURITYFOCUS COM
> Subject: [ISN] German armed forces ban MS software, citing NSA snooping
>
>
> German armed forces ban MS software, citing NSA snooping
> By: John Lettice
> Posted: 17/03/2001 at 18:59 GMT
> http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/4/17679.html
>
>
>
> The German foreign office and Bundeswehr are pulling the plugs on
> Microsoft
> software, citing security concerns, according to the German news magazine
> Der Spiegel. Spiegel claims that German security authorities suspect that
> the US National Security Agency (NSA) has 'back door' access to Microsoft
> source code, and can therefore easily read the Federal Republic's deepest
> secrets.
>
> The Bundeswehr will no longer use American software (we surmise this
> includes Larry and Scott as well) on computers used in sensitive
> areas. The
> German foreign office has meanwhile put plans for
> videoconferencing with its
> overseas embassies on hold, for similar reasons. Under secretary of state
> Gunter Pleuger is said by Spiegel to have discovered that "for technical
> reasons" the satellite service that was to be used was routed via Denver,
> Colorado.
>
> According to a colleague of Pleuger's this meant that the German foreign
> services "might as well hold our conferences directly in
> Langley." We're not
> entirely sure whose interesting video conferencing via satellite
> service has
> a vital groundstation in Denver, but we note that Pleuger seems to have
> gleaned this information from a presentation held earlier this month in
> Berlin by, er, Deutsche Telekom.
>
> Which just happens, along with Siemens, to have picked up the gig. The two
> companies have supplanted Microsoft (and anything else American)
> and will be
> producing a secure, home-grown system that the German military can be
> confident in.
>
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