Bloomberg.com Discloses Conspiracy Between Microsoft And Government To Compromise Security

[better-dead-than-fed]

Microsoft Corp. (MSFT), the world’s largest software company, provides intelligence agencies with information about bugs in its popular software before it publicly releases a fix, according to two people familiar with the process. That information can be used to protect government computers and to access the computers of terrorists or military foes.

Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft (MSFT) and other software or Internet security companies have been aware that this type of early alert allowed the U.S. to exploit vulnerabilities in software sold to foreign governments, according to two U.S. officials. Microsoft doesn’t ask and can’t be told how the government uses such tip-offs, said the officials, who asked not to be identified because the matter is confidential.

Frank Shaw, a spokesman for Microsoft, said those releases occur in cooperation with multiple agencies and are designed to be give government “an early start” on risk assessment and mitigation.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-06-14/u-s-agencies-said-to-swap-data-with-thousands-of-firms.html

[J_White]

Well, if the US is concerned about the potential danger of using chips made in countries like China in its weapons systems, those countries should also think twice about using US made products !

[better-dead-than-fed]

Shaw (mentioned in the original post) has failed to answer:


Does Microsoft deter the government from using Microsoft's information to design exploits against U.S. citizens running Windows? Or is it fine with Microsoft if the government uses your information to design exploits against U.S. citizens running Windows? Does the "early alert" also allow the government to exploit vulnerabilities in software sold to U.S. citizens?

Microsoft's proactivity to compromise users' security may well account for the FBI's evident ability to install spyware on target computers. See:

"How Does CIPAV Work?" (http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2007/07/fbi-spyware-how/)
"New FBI Documents Provide Details on Government’s Surveillance Spyware" (https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2011/04/new-fbi-documents-show-depth-government)
court-order indicating FBI has technical ability to install spyware on target (http://www.scribd.com/doc/137842124/Texas-Order-Denying-Warrant)

[angelatc]

Wow. I don't know why I'm repeatedly surprised to find this stuff out, but it never fails to surprise me.

[CPUd]

It's also built into Microsoft's software engineering practices. Once they finalize the design documentation/specs and start building, they won't allow any changes to be made that do not follow the specs. This inevitably leads to release of software with known bugs. By the time word gets out on the street, they already have patches and service packs ready.

Pro tip: wait at least a year after the release before installing something critical like an OS.

[VoluntaryAmerican]

Microsoft was the the first corp to be part of PRISM.

[UWDude]

Get out of MSFT

sales to foreign governments will plummet. It might as well be Monsanto wheat now.

[better-dead-than-fed]

Here's more detail:


Microsoft is helping the U.S. government install spyware on targeted computers in the U.S. and abroad. The spyware provides extensive information to the government, including:

photographs taken using the computers' built-in cameras;
email contents;
stored photos;
contacts;
passwords;
chat logs;
browsing history; and
search-terms entered into search engines.
The government's ability to install the spyware was revealed in a court order.

Microsoft is enabling the government to exploit active security-vulnerabilities in Microsoft products, by providing the government with privileged information. According to a report obtained from Microsoft, the information provided to the government includes:

detailed technical write-ups on the vulnerabilities;
step-by-step processes describing how the security vulnerabilities can be triggered; and
PoC files that contains the specific conditions that will trigger the vulnerabilities.
Microsoft spokesman Frank Shaw confirmed that Microsoft is providing this information to the government. I asked Shaw:

Does Microsoft deter the government from using Microsoft's information to design exploits against U.S. citizens running Windows?
Do you doubt that your information is what's enabling the FBI to install targeted spyware?

Shaw did not respond to my inquiry.

http://ablogonpolitics.blogspot.com/2013/06/microsoft-helping-us-government-spy-on.html

[ghengis86]

Another conspiracy theory confirmed to be conspiracy fact.

[Warrior_of_Freedom]

this is why i am seriously considering switching to linux. I don't see in any way how it could not be a fact microsoft builds backdoors in Windows for government in the last few versions of windows. Most likely 7 and 8

[donnay]

Another conspiracy theory confirmed to be conspiracy fact.

Alex Jones was talking about this for years ago.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qoWOP_3fl8A


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BmDb0Db0Ehs

[Dr.3D]

And all this time, I thought the weekly software updates were just a way for the government to collect information from each and every computer.

[ghengis86]

Alex Jones was talking about this for years ago.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qoWOP_3fl8A


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BmDb0Db0Ehs

Oh, I understand. But unless its on the network TeeVee, boobus still thinks its a bunch of tin foil hatters.