firehose

niknak79:

One carving to rule them all…

We already know the NSA wants to eavesdrop on the Internet. It has secret agreements with telcos to get direct access to bulk Internet traffic. It has massive systems like TUMULT, TURMOIL, and TURBULENCE to sift through it all. And it can identify ciphertext -- encrypted information -- and figure out which programs could have created it.

But what the NSA wants is to be able to read that encrypted information in as close to real-time as possible. It wants backdoors, just like the cybercriminals and less benevolent governments do.

And we have to figure out how to make it harder for them, or anyone else, to insert those backdoors.

How the NSA Gets Its Backdoors

The FBI tried to get backdoor access embedded in an AT&T secure telephone system in the mid-1990s. The Clipper Chip included something called a LEAF: a Law Enforcement Access Field. It was the key used to encrypt the phone conversation, itself encrypted in a special key known to the FBI, and it was transmitted along with the phone conversation. An FBI eavesdropper could intercept the LEAF and decrypt it, then use the data to eavesdrop on the phone call.

But the Clipper Chip faced severe backlash, and became defunct a few years after being announced.

Having lost that public battle, the NSA decided to get its backdoors through subterfuge: by asking nicely, pressuring, threatening, bribing, or mandating through secret order. The general name for this program is BULLRUN.

Defending against these attacks is difficult. We know from subliminal channel and kleptography research that it's pretty much impossible to guarantee that a complex piece of software isn't leaking secret information. We know from Ken Thompson's famous talk on "trusting trust" (first delivered in the ACM Turing Award Lectures) that you can never be totally sure if there's a security flaw in your software.

Since BULLRUN became public last month, the security community has been examining security flaws discovered over the past several years, looking for signs of deliberate tampering. The Debian random number flaw was probably not deliberate, but the 2003 Linux security vulnerability probably was. The DUAL_EC_DRBG random number generator may or may not have been a backdoor. The SSL 2.0 flaw was probably an honest mistake. The GSM A5/1 encryption algorithm was almost certainly deliberately weakened. All the common RSA moduli out there in the wild: we don't know. Microsoft's _NSAKEY looks like a smoking gun, but honestly, we don't know.

How the NSA Designs Backdoors

While a separate program that sends our data to some IP address somewhere is certainly how any hacker -- from the lowliest script kiddie up to the NSA -- spies on our computers, it's too labor-intensive to work in the general case.

For government eavesdroppers like the NSA, subtlety is critical. In particular, three characteristics are important:

• Low discoverability. The less the backdoor affects the normal operations of the program, the better. Ideally, it shouldn't affect functionality at all. The smaller the backdoor is, the better. Ideally, it should just look like normal functional code. As a blatant example, an email encryption backdoor that appends a plaintext copy to the encrypted copy is much less desirable than a backdoor that reuses most of the key bits in a public IV (initialization vector).

• High deniability. If discovered, the backdoor should look like a mistake. It could be a single opcode change. Or maybe a "mistyped" constant. Or "accidentally" reusing a single-use key multiple times. This is the main reason I am skeptical about _NSAKEY as a deliberate backdoor, and why so many people don't believe the DUAL_EC_DRBG backdoor is real: they're both too obvious.

• Minimal conspiracy. The more people who know about the backdoor, the more likely the secret is to get out. So any good backdoor should be known to very few people. That's why the recently described potential vulnerability in Intel's random number generator worries me so much; one person could make this change during mask generation, and no one else would know.

These characteristics imply several things:

• A closed-source system is safer to subvert, because an open-source system comes with a greater risk of that subversion being discovered. On the other hand, a big open-source system with a lot of developers and sloppy version control is easier to subvert.

• If a software system only has to interoperate with itself, then it is easier to subvert. For example, a closed VPN encryption system only has to interoperate with other instances of that same proprietary system. This is easier to subvert than an industry-wide VPN standard that has to interoperate with equipment from other vendors.

• A commercial software system is easier to subvert, because the profit motive provides a strong incentive for the company to go along with the NSA's requests.

• Protocols developed by large open standards bodies are harder to influence, because a lot of eyes are paying attention. Systems designed by closed standards bodies are easier to influence, especially if the people involved in the standards don't really understand security.

• Systems that send seemingly random information in the clear are easier to subvert. One of the most effective ways of subverting a system is by leaking key information -- recall the LEAF -- and modifying random nonces or header information is the easiest way to do that.

Design Strategies for Defending against Backdoors

With these principles in mind, we can list design strategies. None of them is foolproof, but they are all useful. I'm sure there's more; this list isn't meant to be exhaustive, nor the final word on the topic. It's simply a starting place for discussion. But it won't work unless customers start demanding software with this sort of transparency.

• Vendors should make their encryption code public, including the protocol specifications. This will allow others to examine the code for vulnerabilities. It's true we won't know for sure if the code we're seeing is the code that's actually used in the application, but surreptitious substitution is hard to do, forces the company to outright lie, and increases the number of people required for the conspiracy to work.

• The community should create independent compatible versions of encryption systems, to verify they are operating properly. I envision companies paying for these independent versions, and universities accepting this sort of work as good practice for their students. And yes, I know this can be very hard in practice.

• There should be no master secrets. These are just too vulnerable.

• All random number generators should conform to published and accepted standards. Breaking the random number generator is the easiest difficult-to-detect method of subverting an encryption system. A corollary: we need better published and accepted RNG standards.

• Encryption protocols should be designed so as not to leak any random information. Nonces should be considered part of the key or public predictable counters if possible. Again, the goal is to make it harder to subtly leak key bits in this information.

This is a hard problem. We don't have any technical controls that protect users from the authors of their software.

And the current state of software makes the problem even harder: Modern apps chatter endlessly on the Internet, providing noise and cover for covert communications. Feature bloat provides a greater "attack surface" for anyone wanting to install a backdoor.

In general, what we need is assurance: methodologies for ensuring that a piece of software does what it's supposed to do and nothing more. Unfortunately, we're terrible at this. Even worse, there's not a lot of practical research in this area -- and it's hurting us badly right now.

Yes, we need legal prohibitions against the NSA trying to subvert authors and deliberately weaken cryptography. But this isn't just about the NSA, and legal controls won't protect against those who don't follow the law and ignore international agreements. We need to make their job harder by increasing their risk of discovery. Against a risk-averse adversary, it might be good enough.

This essay previously appeared on Wired.com.

EDITED TO ADD: I am looking for other examples of known or plausible instances of intentional vulnerabilities for a paper I am writing on this topic. If you can think of an example, please post a description and reference in the comments below. Please explain why you think the vulnerability could be intentional. Thank you.

SlashDot asks the question:

I'm a big fan of Bruce Schneier, but just to play devil's advocate, let's say, hypothetically, that Schneier is actually in cahoots with the NSA. Who better to reinstate public trust in weakened cryptosystems? As an exercise in security that Schneier himself may find interesting, what methods are available for proving (or at least affirming) that we can trust Bruce Schneier?

So far, I haven't seen the good reasons why I might be untrustworthy. I'd help, but that seems unfair.

odilonredon:

enochliew:

Star forts

A fortification style that evolved during the age of gunpowder, when the cannon came to dominate the battlefield.

The geometry is intended to present the attacker with the worst possible angles of attack, and to subject them to as much inter-locking/ cross fire as possible.

I see that M. Vauban has been through…

The press preview for TBD, the forthcoming restaurant from the neighboring AQ in San Francisco (in order to find the website it was fun to Google "tbd aq sf") is Thursday, but I got a chance to get a sneak peak at the cocktails from bar manager Timothy Zohn. As you can see, the place is not quiiiite finished yet, so we actually met over at AQ. Zohn is reliquishing his job at AQ and taking over at TBD, with a short cocktail menu created with just a beer and wine license. Zohn says that he is trying not to over-emphasize cocktails at the restaurant: the goal is not to have people drinking them all through dinner and not having to endure loud shaker noises through their meal. He calls the cocktails "loopholes" as they fit through the loopholes that makes fortified wines legal to sell as with a beer/wine license. The first drink he made for us is a great example of that: Nogroni - One ounce each of Peychaud's bitters, juniper-infused Tio Pepe sherry, and Put e Mes. This drink will be on draught after they get up and running. Beergarita - With lager beer (most likely Tecate),...

[Visit Alcademics.com for the full post.]

With disregard for Malala's faith and actual opinions, the atheist thinker uses her to continue his anti-Muslim war

Original Source

A Romanian man who has admitted to stealing masterpieces by Gauguin, Monet and Picasso on Tuesday threatened to sue the Dutch museum he took them from for making his robbery too easy.

James Spader will use "his face and body to create a whole performance" in "Avengers: Age of Ultron," says Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige.

Amazing before and after illustration by Jack Kirby. You can really see what a faithful inker Joe Sinnott was.

Source: Jack Kirby Masterworks, published by Privateer Press, 1979.

Every successful company gets that way by sacrificing something it doesn’t think is important. At Wal-Mart, it’s wages; at Amazon, profits.

At Apple, it’s market share—the proportion of the total number of a given consumer gizmo people want to buy. Over and over again, Apple’s leaders compare Apple to, say, BMW, which is another company that would rather build awesome, expensive stuff than price it at a level that everyone could afford it.

The pricing on the new versions of the iPad Mini, Apple’s most popular tablet, indicates the company is moving even further in the direction of capturing the premium end of the mobile device market, rather than democratizing access to Apple products, as analysts like Henry Blodget believe they should.

A 50% premium over nearest competitors may be too much to swallow

Here’s how the new iPad Mini stacks up: For $300, people can buy a tablet that has a screen inferior to its nearest competitor, Google’s 7″ Nexus 7, which has a “retina” display—the kind that’s important for rendering text in a way that makes reading on a mobile device a pleasure rather than a chore. Granted, the iPad Mini has a significantly larger screen—that extra 0.9″ of diagonal screen size yields a device with 35% more screen area. But the Nexus 7 is only $270.

Alternately, people could buy an iPad Mini with a retina display for $400. They’ll also get the additional screen real estate. But now they’re paying $130 more. The real question is: Is Apple’s ecosystem of apps and media so much better than Google’s? For those who have already invested hundreds of dollars in Apple’s universe, that’s a no-brainer, and that momentum is one reason why Apple is still the #1 maker of tablets in the world.

For price-sensitive consumers, the tablet to get is one of the many, many Android devices. It’s the same story that played out years ago when Macintoshes were expensive compared to PCs and therefore represented only a small fraction of the PC market.

Impact on Apple’s stock price

Here’s what this means to Apple shareholders: Apple may continue to increase its revenue and could, by maintaining its margins on devices like the iPad Mini, maintain profits, as well. But at some point the market for high-end tablets will saturate—and that may be happening already.

schwit1 writes "Oregon is moving ahead with a controversial plan to tax motorists based on the number of miles they drive as opposed to the amount of fuel they consume, raising myriad concerns about cost and privacy. The problem for lawmakers is that the existing per-gallon gas tax has hit a point of diminishing returns, as Americans drive less and vehicles become more fuel efficient. Economists and civil libertarians are concerned about the Oregon pilot project in large part because some mileage meters can track and record residents' every vehicular move. Rick Geddes, a Cornell University professor, said the basic device is okay because it is simply attached to a vehicle's computer, which cannot track locations. However, Geddes said privacy concerns could resurface should governments expand the program and use SmartPhone or apps to track movements and reward motorists who avoid congested roads and drive during off-peak hours. Mark Perry, a University of Michigan scholar, says the GPS or 'black box' system is 'particularly untenable.'" Per-car tracking and taxation has been a long time coming in Oregon, and it's not the only state where such an idea's been floated.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

i-come-by-it-honestly:

Mallory Orberg on fire on twitter today (as usual).

Oh dear heavens, exactly THIS.

"There goes one who does not believe in gods yet calls on them. How will it be for him when they come?". …:)))))))))

Dave Knott writes with this intriguing snippet from CBC: "Argentine scientists have found a way to transform the gas created by the bovine digestive system into fuel, an innovation that could curb greenhouse gases that cause global warming. Using a system of valves and pumps, the experimental technique developed by Argentina's National Institute of Agricultural Technology (INTA) channels the digestive gases from bovine stomach cavities through a tube and into a tank. The gases — which otherwise are commonly known as burps, or "eruptos" in Spanish — are then processed to separate methane from other gases such as carbon dioxide. Each head of cattle emits between 250 and 300 liters of pure methane a day, enough energy to keep a refrigerator running for 24 hours."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

In 1984, the original Macintosh had 128 kilobytes of memory and cost $2,495, or about $5,616 in today’s dollars. Today, Apple revealed more details about the tube-shaped Mac Pro, its most powerful computer, which has 10,000 times as much memory as the original Mac.

While direct comparisons in terms of processing speed are nearly impossible, by any reasonable measure, the new Mac Pro is probably faster by an even larger multiplier than 10,000. And it will retail for $2,999—or, $2,617 less than the original Mac after adjusting for inflation.

Moore’s law, which projects that computers will on average become twice as fast every 18 months or so, is a primary driver of productivity gains from IT and automation across all industries. The Mac Pro is just a benchmark of its power.

by @rubbsdecvik

ANIMATED: All-time great #chyronfail on MSNBC just now

winter-ness:

17 years in a picture.

minhanossa:

Life

osamah:

‘sorry officer i didn’t know that was illegal can u let me go with a warning’

AnsiWeather is a Shell script for displaying the current weather conditions in your terminal, with support for ANSI colors and Unicode symbols.

“Sometimes my guitar doesn’t want to play my songs and it tries to drive away.”

Used Wigs has created a collection of “Ridiculous Indie Rock Band Photos” and added funny captions that lend alternate descriptions to the often serious photos. For more, check out part one and part two of Used Wigs‘ collection.

“No, it’s cool Bethany, you just keep dancing and I’ll just keep looking for your fucking car keys.”

image 1 via MAGNET Magazine, image 2 via SPIN Magazine

via Heather Champ

"Adventure Time" and "Dinosaur Comics" writer Ryan North discusses "The Midas Flesh," his first miniseries for BOOM! Studios' BOOM! Box imprint.

The Fullbright Company's first-person interactive story Gone Home has updated with a new Commentary Mode, giving players an excuse to make a return trip through the Greenbriar family's labyrinthine dwelling.

Gone Home's free Commentary Mode adds more than 90 minutes of audio content to the game, and features voiceovers from developers Steve Gaynor, Johnnemann Nordhagen, Karla Zimonja, and Kate Craig. Additional commentary is provided by Sarah Grayson (the voice of Sam), composer Chris Remo, and Sleater-Kinney singer Corin Tucker, whose former band Heavens to Betsy is featured throughout the story.

The mode itself works similarly to Portal's commentary, and can be accessed via a series of clickable icons located throughout the Greenbriar's house. Explore thoroughly enough and you may shed some new light on the much-discussed Christmas Duck sidequest, among other juicy secrets.

For the next 48 hours, Gone Home is available for 50 percent off of its regular price on Steam and via its website.

Gone Home adds Commentary Mode, now 50% off on Steam originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 22 Oct 2013 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Aside from the obvious health benefits, here’s one more reason to pick up a new sport: It can boost your employability and income.

According to a new paper published in the UK, (pdf) sports participation is associated with both a higher access to employment and higher income opportunities. The paper also compares the correlation of job access and income to a number of different types of sports, including team sports, fitness-related sports, outdoor activities, indoor activities and leisure sports. By these measures, not all sports are created equal.

Team sports—soccer, cricket, rugby, volleyball and basketball, for example—contribute most to employability. People who participated in team sports were, on average, better educated and better employed than those who did not—team sports, for example, were associated with a 3.5% increase in employment. The reason, according to the research, is likely that participation in team sports is an indicator of openness to playing nice in other contexts, an important quality sought in job candidates. ”Comparing the different sports against each other reveals that team sports can contribute most to employability, perhaps by signaling teamwork,” it says.

Outdoor activities, on the other hand—including golf, canoeing, skiing, horse riding and hunting, contribute the most to income. The correlation was particularly strong for men of all ages and working age women. “Sports participation is associated with earnings increases for males and females of all ages of more than 10%,” the paper says.

Individuals who participate in outdoor sports earn on average about £5,200 ($8,422) more than those who don’t play any sports, and over £1000 more than those who partake in any of the other types of sport.

While the paper is clear about the link between sports participation and the structure of the labor market—specifically as it relates to employment and income—it also points out that the the correlation varies depending on both gender and age and is influenced by other factors like wealth. In other words, a more comfortable socio-economic background likely allows a person more time and money to pick up a golf club or rent skis. “Higher incomes and higher socio-economic status also tend to raise the participation rate and frequency of participation in sports,” the paper notes.

Look at the kernel panic crash log list of loaded kext. Do any of them look odd or unfamiliar? Google and any that are not Apple native. [@gaelicwizard says this is low yield in modern versions of OS X] From admin account look at Activity Monitor and scan processes for anything odd. [@gaelicwizard says this is very low yield in modern versions of OS X -- OS is pretty robust to this, see also @clarkgoble's tips below] Remove all peripherals. Run Apple's Hardware Check (used to come on DVD -- seems to run MacOS Classic!) to check memory or use Apple Diagnostics for machines post June 2013 (issue list documents what it can test). If don't have that use 3rd party app. Apple has its own "Apple Service Diagnostics" which is not legally available to us. Inspect all peripheral cables for defects (esp. firewire). Add USB devices. I don't know of any way to check for faults other than running and observing. Try boosting traffic (copy to drive) to stress. Add Firewire devices, one cable/device at a time.

(Phil Schiller) just called Batman "The Black Knight." Oomph.