A trip down memory lane - How NSA access was built into Windows (1999) [View all]

[Catherina]

I am not a techie but I remember lots of talk in the tech crowd about this but didn't pay much attention. I'm posting this without comment.

How NSA access was built into Windows
Duncan Campbell 04.09.1999
Careless mistake reveals subversion of Windows by NSA.

A CARELESS mistake by Microsoft programmers has revealed that special access codes prepared by the US National Security Agency have been secretly built into Windows. The NSA access system is built into every version of the Windows operating system now in use, except early releases of Windows 95 (and its predecessors). The discovery comes close on the heels of the revelations earlier this year that another US software giant, Lotus, had built an NSA "help information" trapdoor into its Notes system, and that security functions on other software systems had been deliberately crippled.

The first discovery of the new NSA access system was made two years ago by British researcher Dr Nicko van Someren. But it was only a few weeks ago when a second researcher rediscovered the access system. With it, he found the evidence linking it to NSA.

...

A second key

Two weeks ago, a US security company came up with conclusive evidence that the second key belongs to NSA. Like Dr van Someren, Andrew Fernandez, chief scientist with Cryptonym of Morrisville, North Carolina, had been probing the presence and significance of the two keys. Then he checked the latest Service Pack release for Windows NT4, Service Pack 5. He found that Microsoft's developers had failed to remove or "strip" the debugging symbols used to test this software before they released it. Inside the code were the labels for the two keys. One was called "KEY". The other was called "NSAKEY".

Fernandes reported his re-discovery of the two CAPI keys, and their secret meaning, to "Advances in Cryptology, Crypto'99" conference held in Santa Barbara. According to those present at the conference, Windows developers attending the conference did not deny that the "NSA" key was built into their software. But they refused to talk about what the key did, or why it had been put there without users' knowledge.

A third key?!

...

Researchers are divided about whether the NSA key could be intended to let US government users of Windows run classified cryptosystems on their machines or whether it is intended to open up anyone's and everyone's Windows computer to intelligence gathering techniques deployed by NSA's burgeoning corps of "information warriors".

...


http://www.heise.de/tp/artikel/5/5263/1.html

There's also a quote in the article "For non-American IT managers relying on Windows NT to operate highly secure data centres, this find is worrying. The US government is currently making it as difficult as possible for "strong" crypto to be used outside of the US. That they have also installed a cryptographic back-door in the world's most abundant operating system should send a strong message to foreign IT managers".

Van Someren holds a doctorate and First Class degree in computer science from Cambridge University in the UK. He is a fellow of both the Royal Academy of Engineering and the British Computer Society

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Microsoft Installs US Spy Agency with Windows

Research Triangle Park, NC - 31 August 1999 - Between Hotmail hacks and
browser bugs, Microsoft has a dismal track record in computer security.
Most of us accept these minor security flaws and go on with life. But
how is an IT manager to feel when they learn that in every copy of
Windows sold, Microsoft may have installed a 'back door' for the
National Security Agency (NSA - the USA's spy agency) making it orders
of magnitude easier for the US government to access their computers?

While investigating the security subsystems of WindowsNT4, Cryptonym's
Chief Scientist Andrew Fernandes discovered exactly that - a back door
for the NSA in every copy of Win95/98/NT4 and Windows2000. Building on
the work of Nicko van Someren (NCipher), and Adi Shamir (the 'S' in
'RSA'), Andrew was investigating Microsoft's "CryptoAPI" architecture
for security flaws. Since the CryptoAPI is the fundamental building
block of cryptographic security in Windows, any flaw in it would open
Windows to electronic attack.

...

Then came WindowsNT4's Service Pack 5. In this service release of software
from Microsoft, the company crucially forgot to remove the symbolic
information identifying the security components. It turns out that there are
really two keys used by Windows; the first belongs to Microsoft, and it allows
them to securely load CryptoAPI services; the second belongs to the NSA. That
means that the NSA can also securely load CryptoAPI services... on your
machine, and without your authorization.

The result is that it is tremendously easier for the NSA to load unauthorized
security services on all copies of Microsoft Windows, and once these security
services are loaded, they can effectively compromise your entire operating
system. For non-American IT managers relying on WinNT to operate highly secure
data centers, this find is worrying. The US government is currently making it
as difficult as possible for "strong" crypto to be used outside of the US;
that they have also installed a cryptographic back-door in the world's most
abundant operating system should send a strong message to foreign IT managers.

...
Cryptonym: Bringing you the Next Generation of Internet Security,
using cryptography, risk management, and public key infrastructure.

Interview Contact:
Andrew Fernandes
Telephone: +#####
email: >>>>@cryptonym.com
Fax: +1 ######

Cryptonym Corporation
1695 Lincolnshire Boulevard
Mississauga, Ontario
Canada L5E 2T2

http://www.cryptonym.com

http://web.archive.org/web/20000617163417/http://www.cryptonym.com/hottopics/msft-nsa/msft-nsa.html

Then there's this, and I'm sure a lot more out there:

Microsoft Denies Windows 7 Has NSA Backdoor
By Marcus YamNovember 20, 2009 11:11 AM - Source: Tom's Hardware US

No backdoor action for Windows 7, assures Microsoft.

Earlier this week we learned that the National Security Agency (NSA) has been working with Microsoft to improve the security measures of Windows 7.

"Working in partnership with Microsoft and (the Department of Defense), NSA leveraged our unique expertise and operational knowledge of system threats and vulnerabilities to enhance Microsoft's operating system security guide without constraining the user's ability to perform their everyday tasks," said Richard Schaeffer, the NSA's Information Assurance Director. "All this was done in coordination with the product release, not months or years later in the product cycle."

...

Marc Rotenberg, the executive director of the Electronics Privacy Information Center (EPIC), expressed his concern as the NSA has an interest in surveillance as as a part of its efforts in security.

...

"The key point is that the NSA is not the right agency to promote computer security in the private sector," Rotenberg argued. "The risks to end users are real -- the original NSA key escrow proposal, 'Clipper,' was a terrible idea -- and there is too little transparency about these arrangements."

http://www.tomshardware.com/news/microsoft-windows-7-nsa-backdoor,9130.html