This is very very old news. It was found years ago when the Windows 2000 (back then known as NT5) was still in beta stage.

sure enough, the BBC link included is from 1999!

I know man! but I had to post this because some people were asking for more info on the topic.

I cant blame them, this didin’t had a proper coverage by the media at the time, and its a pretty important topic

Why would you use windows encryption?

......and then imagine MS is involved in the e-ID cards in Belgium and as i’ve heard from Darios as well in UK.

The future looks bright for MS.

Linux is the only anwser. The Brazilian government already swears by it. Some EU nations are experimenting with it.

Open source is the only way to keep all parties honest, cause lets face it, humans are inherently dishonest by design.

it’s called a zero day exploit. it’s in the source before it leaves beta. the NSA gets it after the script kiddies do. i guaranFNT it. even if they signed off on the deal to put it in there in the first place. don’t be thinking your puter is safe from exploitation. the gubment’s the least of your worries.

germany is already on the process to change every state computer to linux.

As far as I know, the future of linux development is in brazil

Great, so Linux is free from corporate and government tampering. But does it have strong encryption? That’s the issue here. Without strong encryption it’s still susceptable to infiltration by the NSA or any other agency who would choose to snoop. At least with MS you have some protection. It would be nice if you could have an open-source strong encryption, but then that’s kind of an oxymoron isn’t it?

Encryption doesnt work when your ports are were anyone can see them, and that what linux has, a good grown-up structure

“Great, so Linux is free from corporate and government tampering. But does it have strong encryption? That’s the issue here. Without strong encryption it’s still susceptable to infiltration by the NSA or any other agency who would choose to snoop. At least with MS you have some protection. It would be nice if you could have an open-source strong encryption, but then that’s kind of an oxymoron isn’t it?”

You’re talking about the NSA, encryption is their life. The strongest encryption on the planet they can break without problems, but it slows them down. Thats why they put this in MS software, not to be slowed down, so they don’t have to break the encryption at all, they can just enter, get what they want and leave.

“At least with MS you have some protection.” << The protection of an open back door?

Please have a clue what you’re talking about before making comments.

Thats why they put this in MS software, not to be slowed down, so they don’t have to break the encryption at all, they can just enter, get what they want and leave.

That and because a back door is cheaper than a squad of A grade hackers

Great, so Linux is free from corporate and government tampering. But does it have strong encryption?

Duhhhhhhh

Have you even heard of Google?

This seems like an aporopos time to mention this. It’s my very strong conviction that strong crypto is the most important tool a population can have against totalitarianism. Only crypto can protect your communications and personal affairs against electronic eavesdropping. Guns used to be the main protection against totalitarianism, but no more. If you want to maintain your freedom, you have to maintain your right to privacy and non-interference. That means secure, hard encryption of anything that matters- bank information, financial interactions, your personal computer, any sensitive communications, etc. I’ve got friends who actually use 1024-bit and larger keys- they take it that seriously. That’s enough to foil a codebreaker for a couple of fucking centuries, barring really exotic shit like quantum computers.

Anyone concerned about totalitarianism should be taking encryption very seriously. There’s no greater antidote to overweening government control.

Linux has strong encryption. It’s freely available. It’s also open-source.

Firewalls are ubiquitous. You can buy one implemented in hardware for $50. For that matter, you can enable the firewall implementation in Linux if you’re that paranoid about it. And again, it’s open-source; no questions, no doubts, no horseshit; if you don’t believe it, look at the code for yourself. It’s just not that difficult. So who cares what ports are open? No-one’s gonna get at it unless you’re stupid and leave one open, and if you don’t know enough not to, you prolly shouldn’t be allowed to play with knives either; they’re sharp and might cut you.

As far as concealed-source software like Windoze, you have to trust the company you bought it from; if you don’t, don’t buy it. Simple as that. M$ prolly didn’t give the private key that matches that public key to the NSA; but it doesn’t really matter. If the NSA demanded it, M$ would sign anything the NSA wanted signed with the private key for the primary public key, and they’d never tell anyone; they are, after all, a US company, subject to US law, and the NSA is part of the US government. So if it comes down to it, they can get anything they want anyway. M$‘s story about how they have the second private key sequestered in a separate secure location as a protection against a disaster that destroys the records of the first private key is prolly true. There’s no reason for them to have given the NSA a back door; the NSA can stroll in the front door and no one will ever know.

Why sweat it? What, you thought something you bought from a US company where they conceal the method by which it’s made, which contains security-related technology, was immune from compromise by the US government? Silly you.

Oh yeah- and if you’re interested in this subject, drop everything and read Cryptonomicon by Neil Stephenson. Schneib, that means you. Crypto intrigue thriller (fiction), insanely complex plot, alternates between WWII crypto efforts and modern attempts to fight against totalitarianism with cryptosecure data havens. Yeah, it’s fucking tight.

Read it, but thanks. Let me suggest one for you: The Code Book, by Simon Singh. Best relatively non-technical discussion of codes and ciphers I’ve come across; including how the RSA algorithm works, a review of quantum ciphers, and a really neat story about how a guy named Clifford Cocks, who worked for the British, and developed the idea that was rediscovered by Rivest, Shamir, and Adleman (who are, of course, the “R,” “S,” and “A” in “RSA”) four years later; and neat stories about Diffie and Hellman, and an excellent review of the DH algorithm. Also an excellent review of the Enigma cipher and related ciphers used by the Germans and the Japanese in WWII.