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

[lsi <lsi () LSI CLARA NET>]

Hi David,

I have a number of articles which speculate upon the future of
Microsoft, given a) the finding against them in their anti-trust case,
and b) the relative merits of closed and open-source software.

My first article suggests there's no business case to rely on a
single source of anything (including software):
http://cyberdelix.net/opinions/microhuh.htm

The second article suggests that Microsoft should be liable for
damages, due to a) negligent coding that allows worms such as I
Love You and Melissa to propagate, and b) deliberately,
systematically undermining the market to prevent a better solution
from emerging:
http://cyberdelix.net/opinions/damages.htm

I have a series of articles collected from the net on the NSAKEY
issue:
http://cyberdelix.net/parvati/nsakey1.htm

Also, Bruce Scheiner in his most recent crypto-gram makes note
of the upcoming 'hacker insurance' industry.  Essentially, it'll cost
more to insure a Windows-based network, because it's less secure
than other platforms.  IMHO, this is sure to knock closed-source
software on the head, once and for all.

So, I'd say the trend is ... well, sell your M$ shares now.

Stuart :)

On 19 Mar 2001, at 10:56, Davide Ferrara wrote:

Date sent:              Mon, 19 Mar 2001 10:56:13 -0000
Send reply to:          dferrara () comsecconsulting com
From:                   Davide Ferrara <dferrara () COMSECCONSULTING COM>
Subject:                Re: [ISN] German armed forces ban MS software, citing NSA snooping
To:                     ISN () SECURITYFOCUS 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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------------------------------
. ^               Stuart Udall
.~X\     stuart () cyberdelix net
.~ \    http://cyberdelix.net/

..revolution through evolution

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