Schneier on Security

Clive Robinson • September 17, 2010 9:59 PM

@ Nick P,

I admit I am saddened by the NSA’s recent moves but it also reflects a cold commercial reality within the politiking of federal fund grabs.

To be honest the nuts and bolts of security as you, I and Brian Snow et al would understand is being quietly ushered out the back door.

Part of it is the choice of decision makers to follow the bandwagon that is Federal Anti-terror funding and part their inability to understand where security threats come from and why.

It also shows clearly their recent land grab on APT and Cyber-Warfare.

The hard won lessons of EmSec appear to have evaporated as the shift of the Neo-Con focus from Communist Block Cold War to Middle East Hot War.

Although I’m sure COTS motherboard systems will run the software, I know for certain that as far as EmSec is concerned COTS is a very very leaky to the point of being worse than usless. That is such things as manufactures using Spread Spectrum clocks to meet emission masks as opposed to R/L C filtering and adiquate sheilding actually make an attackers life oh so much simpler.

I could go on at length but… I know you’ve heard it all before 8)

Clive Robinson • September 18, 2010 3:52 AM

@ Nick P,

It’s not just “Nation States” today it’s large corperates as well. Also the question of “which” Nation States and why.

Some years ago now the exiting head of the French Secret Service was asked about Nation State’s spying on companies etc.

He made the very valid point the the cheapest form of R&D was to steal from your competitors, and that a healthy industrial base in your country is part of National Security. The American Journalist asked another question and the French head made the admission that France as a Nation State routienly spyed on forign competitors for it’s National Industries, but more importantly implicated other Nations.

Later it was shown that the crash of the Russian “Koncordsky” TU-144,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dPQlbhgD4YQ

At the Paris Air Show (Le Bourget) back in 1973 was very probably as a result of French military aircraft flying in a way that you would expect if they where trying to get covert Intel on flight dynamics.

The British and the French both reasonably suspected that the TU-144 was built as a result of Russian espionage on the British design team. Analysis of the TU-144 wreakage showed this to be true.

Both Britain and France used to derive considerable income and prestige by the exports of military hardware to “other nations”. At one point I was involved with such things and know of an occasion where a combat radio system was being trialed by a forign nation and it was known that the French where also bidding for the work. During the trial the British system suddenly started to suffer from problems and “deafness”.

It was discovered that strange eminations where appearing during the test which where definatly hampering the system performance.

Lets just say that a group of highly spirited young engineers tracked the source of the emissions down. And that one of the engineers had access to some interesting pyrotechnics (electricaly detonated diver recalls etc) and knew how to modify and enhance them to good effect.

The result was some quite serious “accidental” damage to a vehical of some very odd looking French speaking male only tourists. That from the ashes of their vehical liked to take some very sophisticated (not so) “amateur radio” equipment and all the “test gear” not just to repair it but build it anew with them.

Just coincidentaly the problems the British bid team where having just vanished at the same time as the fire.

Sometimes those that seek to do us most harm are our supposed friends for whom winning at any cost is the name of the game.

We should not be surprised at this as we see it in our everyday lives where latent psychopaths work their way to the top of large corporates. Sometimes we call them “Alpha Males” most often we are less polite in private. That strange “Americanisum” of “It’s a war out there” is a little less strange than many realise when the get a look at the underbelly.

One thing that realy saddens me is that we may be doing it to ourselves in that we have fallen into an “out sourcing” trap where not only do we destroy our own industrial base we also willingly give away our R&D secrets for less than nothing, just so the next quaters figures give improved “shareholder” value. And our Politico’s believe this is good as we don’t need “messy industry with it’s labour relations issues” but “service industries” working in the “information economy”.

Over here in Britain for instance “Vince Cable” has just recently proposed that we cut funding to research carried out by UK Universities to get us over our current economic difficulties…

Sometimes it beggers belief in just how out of touch and ridiculous our “political” lords and master’s are. University R&D is the UK’s speciality we punch many many times above our weight. Arguably it is our only asset of any worth left in the countries store cupboard. I for one know the effects of a “brain drain” that happened many years ago it took over a quater of a century to claw our way back it would be stupidity beyond measure to repeate that mistake.