News you may have missed #0136
October 9, 2009 Leave a comment
- US Senate panel votes to extend PATRIOT surveillance powers. The Senate Judiciary Committee has approved a measure that would leave the controversial surveillance powers of the USA Patriot Act mostly intact.
- So who was behind GhostNet cyberespionage? Cyber hawks in the West are eager to blame the Chinese government for the huge cyberespionage ring, managed to infiltrate nearly 1,300 mainly government and corporate computers in at least 103 countries, before it was detected last March. This is in contrast to the actual cybersecurity experts themselves, who insist that they still have no idea who was behind it.
- US Pentagon creates website for access to secret science. The Pentagon’s Defense Technical Information Center (DTIC) has announced the creation of a new password-protected portal where authorized users can gain access to restricted scientific and engineering publications.
intelNews.org 
Privacy concerns as NSA admits “helping” Microsoft
November 20, 2009 by intelNews 2 Comments
Richard Schaeffer
By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |
Security experts raised privacy concerns after a US National Security Agency official revealed that the Agency collaborated with Microsoft during the development stage of Windows 7. The revelation was made in a prepared statement by NSA information assurance director Richard Schaeffer, before the US Senate’s Subcommittee on Terrorism and Homeland Security, which operates under the Judiciary panel. Speaking during a hearing on cybersecurity on November 17, Schaeffer acknowledged that the NSA drew on its “unique expertise and operational knowledge of system threats and vulnerabilities to enhance Microsoft’s operating system security guide”. Schaeffer ‘s prepared statement is available on video here (forward to 32nd minute). Read more of this post
Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with communications interception, domestic intelligence, Electronic Privacy Information Center, Marc Rotenberg, Microsoft, News, NSA, Richard Schaeffer, United States, US Senate Committee on the Judiciary, US Senate Committee on the Judiciary Subcommittee on Terrorism and Homeland Security, Windows 2000, Windows 7, Windows 9X, Windows Vista, Windows XP