The CIA Built a Fake Software Update System To Spy On Intel Partners (theverge.com) 110
Documents published by Wikileaks reveal a secret project to siphon out data through its technical liaison service, dating back to 2009. The Verge reports: The program, called ExpressLane, is designed to be deployed alongside a biometric collection system that the CIA provides to partner agencies. In theory, those partners are agreeing to provide the CIA with access to specific biometric data -- but on the off-chance those partners are holding out on them, ExpressLane gives the agency a way to take it without anyone knowing. ExpressLane masquerades as a software update, delivered in-person by CIA technicians -- but the documents make clear that the program itself will remain unchanged. Instead, the program siphons the system's data to a thumb drive, where agents can examine it to see if there's anything the partner system is holding back. If the partners refuse the phony update, there's a hidden kill-switch that lets agents shut down the entire system after a set period of time, requiring an in-person visit to restore the system.
Lol (Score:5, Insightful)
Oh that depends on the details (Score:3)
Let's say that that partner agency is the FBI and the FBI takes this to mean that the CIA was illegally grabbing domestic data in direct violation of laws governing "US Persons Data" and the FBI's own guidelines (that were referenced in the memorandum of understanding). You better bet that someone in their leadership is at least raising the issue of prosecuting the CIA folks responsible, if for no other reason than "we're the FBI and you don't fucking spy on the FBI without consequences."
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You're forgetting about the family of the poor corpse that snitched on this once they find him.
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They were stupid enough to get caught spying on people they rely on to cooperate with them. They just made their own jobs a lot harder.
Not so smart after all.
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Depending on who they where "spying" on and what agreements where in existence between the said governments, random spooks doing this sort of shit and jeopardising important intelligence sparing operations should probably be looking at jail time IMHO.
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Except this has happened throughout history and allies know allies spy on allies. The only thing that changes when they get caught is security procedures.
No one's making life harder for another agency over this because they're still ultimately reliant on each other for intel to stop real threats from terrorism to state actors who aren't allies.
All that'll happen is they'll tell them they ain't sticking this software on anymore and they'll share the data another way. It's going to have zero impact on coopera
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the people in charge of things like this aren't as petty as Slashdot crybabies and are too focused on getting the job done
Wait, so expecting ethical behavior from your partners, and strenuously insisting that your systems are secure counts as being "crybabies" now?
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Yes, spies are spying. That's their job. And when a spy is caught spying, they're shot.
That is my job.
What would you expect in Putin's Russia? (Score:3, Funny)
This would never happen in the US of A!
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Allegedly it's intelligence and counter-terrorism. But more and more it feels like counter-intelligence and terrorism.
Re:What would you expect in Putin's Russia? (Score:4)
Allegedly it's intelligence and counter-terrorism. But more and more it feels like counter-intelligence and terrorism.
It's basic human nature at work. You give a group of people (government) power over another group (citizens), and it will be abused. The more power the first group has over the second, the more and the harsher the abuse. It's the reason in a nutshell why the US Constitution was written to be almost entirely about restricting the Federal government to narrowly-defined & limited powers and duties.
Remember boys and girls, since nation-states became a thing, more citizens have died at the hands of their own government than have died in all the wars by a huge margin. Be careful what you wish for...you just may get it!
Strat
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Remember boys and girls, since nation-states became a thing, more citizens have died at the hands of their own government than have died in all the wars by a huge margin. Be careful what you wish for...you just may get it!
Only if you define being killed in war as "died at the hands of their own government". And that definition would be ludicrous.
Oh, Intelligence Partners? (Score:4, Funny)
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why's the CIA spying on Intel and its partners?
It's usually just plain called "Industrial Espionage".
The CIA will claim it is necessary to ensure US military technology superiority against any potential threats.
Victims of Industrial Espionage see it differently . . . the whole point is to "help out" US tech companies compete against foreign folks. To return the favor, the US tech companies "help out" the CIA/NSA if they need any back doors in their products.
WHOOSH! [Re:Oh, Intelligence Partners?] (Score:2)
The parent post was ironic: the headline says "Spying on Intel Partners," but in this case, the word "Intel" is headline-ese for "Intelligence partners"-- it has nothing to do with Intel, the corporation that makes computer chips.
If you'd read the subject of the comment, that would have been clear.
Whoosh!
Re:Oh, Intelligence Partners? (Score:5, Informative)
So they can use Intel's Management Engine [slashdot.org] to spy on the rest of us.
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I have servers at home. and so, they are probably spying on my 8x as much.
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Obama is as much of a white man as he is a black man.
Racist of him to ignore his white heritage
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No black man is ever going to be as white as Michael Jackson.
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Re: Thanks Obama. (Score:2)
LOL You've never been to Africa, have you?
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Africa have a huge variety in "races" (not politically or technically correct but...) with varying heights, skin color, bone structures etc. Only racist (this one is technically correct!) and idiots wouldn't know that. I assume you are of the second kind?
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Re:Thanks Obama. (Score:5, Interesting)
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Pretty much all I've seen is trumpets blaming everything on either obama or hillary, whether it happened after obama was out of office, during his 2 terms, or things that happened before for that matter. They've really got some serious issues, but I don't think even freud could help them!
Well, it is par for the course. Recall that the start of the Obama was an endless chorus of "it's Bush's fault" continuing until well after the 2012 election. That did not happen so much during the Bush presidency, but I suspect that is because September 11 happened so soon after he took office and at that point everyone in the country united under a common cause. Even after the unity dissolved, the government stayed focused on the "Global War on Terror" until well into the
Re: Thanks Obama. (Score:1)
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Thanks Obama
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Re: Thanks Obama. (Score:3)
Trump got more fat women out walking, in just six months, than Michelle Obama managed in eight whole years.
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Nope
Relief (Score:1)
The only thing with word "express" on my drive is "nero express." So am good.
Why are our intel secrets being leaked like this? (Score:4, Interesting)
These leaks are really alarming. Why has this been happening? Who is accountable for it? Did this occur under Obama's watch (or failure thereof)?
Re: Why are our intel secrets being leaked like th (Score:5, Insightful)
Yes! These damning leaks need to stop, how can we commit abuses against our own citizens otherwise. Don't worry, I'm sure the CIA only used this on foreign Intel partners in this case. We are already trying to work out who is responsible for leaking the document do we can charge them with espionage and treason.
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How about Intel investors, how do you think they will feel, knowing their asset has been so cavalierly risked because there will be repercussion in the international market. Intel clearly can not be trusted and will commit acts of treason in other countries to serve the corrupt deep state within the US government. Yeah, when you do it in other countries it is far worse, espionage and treason, real repercussions, not to mention the complete destruction of trust. Keep in mind this release of information is be
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This is about US government agencies with whom the CIA partners to provide tech support for biometrics. As I read it, they simply had a kind of backdoor way to collect the data that the partner agencies were supposed to be collecting anyway.
This is not about the Intel the company, foreign governments, nor about spying on US citizens. :-)
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By Intel partners they mean intelligence partners ;) You know, foreign intelligence agencies, private intelligence agencies, other US intelligence agencies, contractors they use to build their own door biometric authentication systems...
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You're damn right these leaks need to stop! I have just the person to do it too, he's known world-wide for his exploits, too! You probably heard of him, his name is Mario!
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For an "oppressive agenda" I need look no farther than the unfolding catastrophe around me in my major US city that has been brought about by decades of liberal incompetance and insanity. Seeing human beings decomposing in the streets before my eyes, smelling the feces and urine, while we are invaded by throngs of illegals all while the politicians scream "sanctuary" is evidence enough to me of an "oppressive agenda".
As for spy agencies - I expect them to spy. That's their job. They probably are way more
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Wait, when you say "intel secrets" do you mean "intel secrets" or "Intel secrets"? I'm confused.
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"Intel" is short for "intelligence" meaning "intelligence agency" i.e. the CIA or NSA.
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Who is accountable for it?
No one. When it comes to espionage there is no prosecution.
Anyone stupid enough to get in bed with spooks (Score:1)
probably deserves to be taken advantage of, but not the people whose data they handle.
If You Deal With Spooks You Get Haunted (Score:1)
Why is anyone so surprised?
Is this news? (Score:3, Interesting)
Wouldn't it be more surprising to hear that CIA genuinely didn't spy on everybody and never did things they weren't supposed to? They are a spy agency - it is their job.
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True, but Intel are probably somewhat bummed that people have lost trust in them because apparently they can't secure their updates against hacking. If the CIA can do it, we should probably assume that they have been pwned by the FSB, North Korea and some 14 year old kid.
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"Spying on everybody and doing things they aren't supposed to" is not their job, the same way that "shooting everybody and doing things they aren't supposed to" is not the army's job. The CIA is an intelligence agency - that naturally involves plenty of spying, but two things they specifically should not be doing are: "spying on everybody" and "things they aren't supposed to".
Oh! *intelligence* partners. (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Oh! *intelligence* partners. (Score:4, Insightful)
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Domestic industrial espionage? Does Intel not have *foreign* partners too?
I am not shocked (Score:3, Interesting)
Sounds just like... (Score:1)
....Microsoft's update program.
I guess we know where they learned the technique.
I remember when the Web used to be a fun place.. (Score:1)
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Nostalgic, I see.
I've put a blink tag in this response for you. Slashcode will filter it out and in any case your browser probably doesn't honor it, but you'll know it's there.
You lay down with dogs... (Score:2)
you get up with fleas.
Deeper Yet (Score:2)
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You are correct, and every major software company is very aware of that. Most of them, though, just let it happen.