Schneier on Security

Clive Robinson • May 20, 2020 7:11 PM

@ Bruce, Rachel,

I don’t remember anything about them in the Snowden documents I read. Almost all of it was bulk SIGINT of Internet and telephony.

That does not supprise me in the slightest.

If you think about it TEMPEST EmSec and other such attacks are very resource intensive and used against “targets of interest”. The same with “Black Bag”, “Wet Work” etc attacks. All of which are usually carried out not by rank and file staff that Ed Snowden dealt with but exmilitary and domain specialists (way above “Echo 4” pay grade) often employed as “contractors” or those classed as “NOC’s” for “arms length” / “deniability” reasons. Such people are often not even payed monetarily, they can get what are in effect “insider trading tips” or “other commodities” etc.

The “rank and file” Ed Snowden provided SysAdmin for, were most definitely not into “targeted collection” but “bulk collection” that is they did wherever possible hide atleast “one router upstream” of users and corporates from which they hovered up data where the only people who could see them were one or two of the staff in “Telco Operator” exchanges etc.

Back in the 50’s through 80’s when much of the UK “Trunk” was done by microwave links the UK GCHQ did not even go anywhere near the Telco Opetators sites. They set up what looked like “grain silos” some miles away, and at the very top installed specialized monitoring equipment that picked up “dish spill” etc. A specialised unit within the GPO later BT euphemisticaly called “secret squirrels” by other technical staff put in the specialised links back from those monitoring sites to the likes of Hanslope Park.

The advent of “fiber optics” caused major issues as the monitoring equipment now had to be some how “co-located” where it would be visable to way to many eyes. This was often achived by putting in remote/unmaned” “relay nodes” that were classified as being for “service expansion” and what many thought was “dark fiber” pulled through for later expansion was, in fact only awaiting the normal technicial instalation staff “to move off site” so the real job of setting it up could be carried out by just a couple of “secret squirrels”. The fun side of the “secret squirrels” that were cleared for MI5 and GCHQ work was that they actually hid behind another group of technicians that people thought were the secret sqirrles. These were technical staff cleared for working on “secret / secure” military bases and “Regonal Command Centers” put in place for a devolved Government should the “Ash City” predictions become true. Sadly the real secret squirrels who worked with people like MI5’s Tony Sale –who also rescued Bletchly Park– are mostly nolonger with most having reached retirment age in the late 1980’s.

Clive Robinson • May 21, 2020 1:23 PM

@ JonKnowsNothing, SpaceLifeForm, SocraticGadfly,

In the UK there is something called a Letter D(?)

It’s actually used to be called a “D-Notice” the original D-Notice system was introduced in 1912 the D standing for “Defence”. The system has been changed a few times over the years, mostly more recently with the growth of the Internet weakening the “Press Barrons” etc.

Many however assume incorrectly that the D was the first letter of DORA which is short for “Defence of the Realm Act” introduced right at the begining of WWI in 1914. Which is what many people get told “officialy” but incorrectly (I guess because it hides the voluntary aspect).

In theory the D-Notice was issued by a “committee” but the reality is the committee followed what ever the Cabinet Office “suggested”.

A D-Notice used to be issued to the senior editors of newspapers. It wasactually “advisory” and thus had no it was followed “voluntarily”… However not following it could cause the newspaper to not get contacts with government officials etc thus, “Whilst there was no stick, the carrot could be whipped away”.

Whilst they can still be used politicians these days have zero respect for journalists, editors or media organisations, thus they prefere something with teeth, to ensure compliance.

This can be seen from what went on in 2013 and not a million miles from the subject of this thread.

In June 2013, a DA-Notice was issued asking the media to refrain from running stories on the US PRISM surveillance programme, and on British involvement therein. Supprise supprise it got ignored and various politicos and civil servants who should have known better got “their panties in a wad” part of which was the shanefull behaviour at Heathrow and in the Guardian basement.

Thus the UK Prime Minister David Cameron made things worse. In october 2013 he made a compleate tit of himself and was laughed at because he made a veiled threat to newspapers over NSA and GCHQ leaks, stating in Parliament that the government might use D-Notices, injunctions or other what he intermated were tougher measures, all to restrain publication of leaked classified information if newspapers did not voluntarily stop publishing them.

Guess how far that got him…

As was pointed out even by other politicians GCHQ had been upto highly questionable if not what they considered illegal activities and they wanted answers. Especially when it became clear that all MP’s their advisors etc were routinely spied upon by GCHQ, and as the Whestminster IT system used Office 365 out of Eire (Southern Ireland) that ment just about every keystroke crossed an international border… Opps, and was thus fair game. Thus the head of GCHQ infront of a house of commons committee made it bluntly clear that the “Harold Wilson” edict was not in any way law thus had no bearing on GCHQ’s activities towards UK poloticians etc (Obama did something similar with US political calls to Israel, which shocked quite a few US politicians who had effectively got into bed with the worst of the worst of Israeli leaders and amongst other things doing what they later accused others of doing with Russia).

I guess few interested in the Ed Snowden Trove or story, ever realy think what effect it had on the broader Five Eyes group. The one thing the politicians and civil servants have taken great care not to talk about, is that the Five Eyes as a group have set themselves up above all their respective nations elected representatives, and are thus beyond the reach of not just the politicians but those who vote for the politicians, the hard working tax paying citizens of those nations.

Which brings us to two D-Notices issued in March 2018 over the Sergei Skripal Affair because of the Trump Dossier… Yup it was known to quite a few but there was not much people were alowed to say, and because it involved a lot of political embarrassment both in the UK for “seniors” in Cambridge Analytica, and in the GOP because one of the three families trying to get control of the GOP had set up and funded Cambridge Analytica including the money they had funneled through Russia…

For those that don’t know the connection, Sergei Skripal was recruited by MI6 Officer Pablo Miller, who was under diplomatic cover in the UK embassy to Estonia in Tallinn. Another heavilt involved MI6 officer under diplomatic cover at the time in Moscow was somebody called Christopher Steele. Miller remained Skripal’s handler / case officer after Skripal was jailed and then released by Russia in a spy swap.

Of more interest Both Skripal and Miller lived in Salisbury for reasons most can guess. But by then Miller had set up with Steele “Orbis Business Intelligence” which was first payed by the Republicans and then the Democrats for the highly controversial “Trump–Russia” dossier. As some may remember the dossier comprised 17 memos written in 2016 alleging misconduct and conspiracy between Donald Trump’s presidential campaign and the Putin administration. The problem was the intel gathering was not done in.a reliable way, people were payed in effect to say things to intermediaries in Russia that then reported back to Christopher Steel, who took little or no action to verify what he was being told… This was made worse because in intel terms “Steel went of the reservation” and became emotionaly involved and exhibiting cognative bias… So much so he in effect broke several unwritten rules that made him not just visable but lit up more than the Xmas tree in Trafalgar Square. As it turns out his dossier became a joke and was waved around by cranks and conspiracy theorists, and appart from being a “five minute wonder” achived very little against it’s intended target, but created a whole bunch of difficulties for the UK Gov who sudenly found themselves wanting the whole mess to just get out of the press. Which in turn caused claims of a UK cover up, especially when certain right wing european entities started getting involved and producing amongst other things highly suspect photographs…

As the old saying has it “you could not make it up if you tried” but some sure did try and try very hard indeed.

Clive Robinson • May 21, 2020 10:20 PM

@SocraticGadfly,

As a socialist who thinks the US needs the old pre-1971 Post OFFICE and an NHS, not “just” single-payer,

Wanting both of those and other similar things most definitely does not make you a “socialist” just a “realist” or “pragmatist”. Also the US interpretation of “socialist” is not just wrong it’s prejudiced, just as certain words we nolonger use were during the 1960’s and into this century.

As I’ve mentioned before you have to judge where the balance should be between “Individual-v-Societal rights and responsabilities lie”.

The expression “No man is an island” implies that we can not act in a purely individual state, that is we have to exist collectively in a society. This makes sense when you realise that just as “no man is an island” also “no man is a master of all trades”. That is makinds “high estate” is very much dependent on individuals becoming masters of trades, then trading their skills with others to the benifit of all.

The neo-liberal view point whilst portrayed as something “good” is actually parasitic in nature. That is it demands society fills the neo-liberal pocket but that the neo-liberal pocket should not in any way pay anything back to society. Thus it’s the same outlook on life that the worst of criminals have to take and abuse quite literally to “Rape, Pillage and Plunder” with no remorse, as if they are doing it by “Divine Right” they are the very antithesis of democratic principles.

Some neo-liberals will argue that the US is a “Republic” not a “Democracy”, but that is by changing the fundemental meaning of what a “Republic” is.

As the second president of the United States John Adams pointed out,

“[The] science of politics is the science of social happiness”

And a republic is the form of government arrived at when the science of politics is appropriately applied to the creation of a rationally designed government (see John Adams Defense of the Constitution[1]).

Unfortunately since then many have perverted the meaning to their own ends and I doubt John Adams would recognise the mess of misalined dogma and mantra that many try to squeeze under the title to in effect wrap themselves in the flag. As I pointed out a number of years ago on this blog Donald Trump is not a Republican in any way shape or form and was just self interested, for some reason that observation surprised people back then…

If you think about it logically society is strongest when things work best for society under the simple principle “A rising tide rises all well found boats”. This however has implications for individuals who wish to “Rape, Pillage and Plunder”, they need society not just to be weak but unstable because that presents them with most opportunity to suck the life blood out of society. There is a reason why the Rolling stone article gave us the now famous expression of “vampire squid” during the financial crisis, and that is the actions against society and it’s well being that would otherwise be considered illegal, if the financial industry lobbyists had not “bought off” the representatives of the people who are responsible for legislation.

Thus your wish for a better postal and health service is fully inline with the original thinking of John Adams and others of what the Republic of the United States of America should be like. Not the perversion it has become.

[1] Can be found in “John Adams, The Works of John Adams, vol. 10 (Letters 1811-1825)” published in 1854.

Clive Robinson • May 22, 2020 7:56 AM

@ JonKnowsNothing,

It wasn’t safe to indicate such knowledge, then or now.

As our host @Bruce has noted in the past ICT in it’s application by power bases is taking us back to a feudal society.

This is essentialy one where information thus knowledge and education is reserved for those with power and thus status. History shows us that such times are very bad for humanity, society stalls then goes backwards into “dark ages” where rationality is replaced by superstition and worse.

George Orwell also noticed this control and restriction on information as a way not just to make society extreamly hierarchical but strongly segregated into not just a class system but a cast system. That is you would be assignrd to a cast and neither you nor your decedents would be alowed to leave the cast they were placed in.

In Europe such cast systems whilst concentrating power in the hands of a few also reduced breeding prospects via the notion of “blood purity”. Thus a “closed stud” breeding book was formed. And as we now know this causes all sorts of nasty effects. To the point that something like six out of ten members of the upper classes had “inbred genetic disorders” and some where it was ten out of ten as with the Habsburg jaw (mandibular prognathism). Which had unfortunate but predictable consequences as pedigree livestock and dog breeders are only to aware of. The Habsburg jaw was a visable sign of incestuous marriage to maintain power thus the Spanish Crown. They died out when the last male heir was not just mad, riddled with genetic disorders, weak and suffering from malnutrition but also infertile.

The thing is that this is seen in nearly all cast systems as you aproach the top of the hierarchy. Nature has shown that “hybrid vigour” is what is sustainable as it increases resilience.

However when knowledge is held in so few and decreasing numbers of hands “the madness of power” acts in a way that makes being anything other than stupid as a flag to be marked out for death (see Pol Pot’s killing fields). That is those in power see any kind of inteligence as being a threat to them so they remove the percieved threats.

We see something similar with silicon valley corps like Uber, some call them “disruptive technologies” but in reality they have seen a way to prey on an existing stable culture. As they gain power they fear those “Who will do unto them, what they have done unto others” with the result they bribe legislators to introduce legislation to stop that happening. Thus theu try to “pull up the draw bridge” behind them.

Unfortunatly they suffer the fate of the inbred, they become less and less resilient and incapable, if not the equivelent of mad. Thus they fail…

A clasic example of this is “business consultants” each new scheme they come up with is not thought out for it’s long term results only the short term profit of the “business consultants”. The result is that many who follow such advice become less resiliant and thus increasingly likely to fail. But worse once the leaders of such business do adopt the schemes they start on a downward spiral, because the profit benifit to a business of adopting such schemes is fleeting at best whilst the injury is long lasting. The result is such businesses start on a downward spiral and cessation of existence.

The thing about this current pandemic is it is showing up the failings not just of neo-liberalism, but worse the utter dependence some politicians have become on it… Nation states should not fail, but they do, and the failure falls on the citizens for unknown numbers of generations. We can see this in the UK and US where the “political cast” has clearly started to show it’s Habsburg Jaw, and the idiocy and madness that accompanies it.

As you note now is not a good time for those who are young to shout out that “The Emperor has no clothes”. But as for the old, it’s easier for some to be brave, as they realise immortality happens only in the minds of those that remember us, and with luck our descendants. Thus passing on knowledge is a way to achieve some measure of immortality, whilst hopefully not becoming a martyr due to the imbicility of the inbred, be they “Any person legal or natural”.