NSA Helping with Windows 7 Security
The National Security Agency is a life-long friend of Windows and Microsoft.
NPR reports that the National Security Agency (NSA) has been working with Microsoft to improve the security measures of Windows 7. The NSA has been involved with the new operating system since its inception, showing that the agency is committed to getting more involved with the private sector in regards to cybersecurity. The agency revealed its involvement yesterday during a hearing held in Washington.
"Working in partnership with Microsoft and (the Department of Defense), NSA leveraged our unique expertise and operational knowledge of system threats and vulnerabilities to enhance Microsoft's operating system security guide without constraining the user's ability to perform their everyday tasks," said Richard Schaeffer, the NSA's Information Assurance Director. "All this was done in coordination with the product release, not months or years later in the product cycle."
The NSA also helped Microsoft boost the defenses of Windows Vista, and even provided a helping hand with Windows XP back in 2005. The agency, charged with protecting the national security computing infrastructure, depends on private-sector software such as Windows 7. Thus, the agency is working closely to keep its defenses--along with consumers in the private sector--strong against online attacks from all aspects.
"More and more, we find that protecting national security systems demands teaming with public and private institutions to raise the information assurance level of products and services more broadly," Schaeffer said.
Get more tech and gaming news by hitting me up on Twitter here.
- Study: Asus, Toshiba Make Most Reliable Laptops
- Tues. Deals: Dreamcast, Free Pizza, Adamo XPS
- Pirate Bay Torrent Tracker Shuts Down Forever
- World of Warcraft Mr. T Gives Mohawk Grenades
- Hackers Make Modern Warfare 2 Ded. Server?
- Ex-Alienware Founder Launches Origin, New Rigs
- Microsoft Launches Azure Cloud Service Jan 1
- Microsoft Co-founder Diagnosed With Cancer
- Apple to Offer 25% Off Macs on Black Friday
- Bing Gains in October, Yahoo! Falls, Google Leads
- VIDEO: Microsoft Employees Dance at Customers
- AMD's Dual GPU Radeon HD 5970 is Fastest Ever
- Microsoft Office 2010 Beta Downloadable Now
- OCZ Colossus is 3.5'' SSD, 1TB, Fast, Expensive
- ATI Catalyst 9.11 WHQL Released, GPU Flash
- Microsoft Previews Internet Explorer 9 at PDC09
- Courts Stop MSFT Selling Old Windows in China
- We're Hiring and We Want You!
and Steve Jobs get's nothing? man he got the shaft. Who wouldn't want the NSA putting backdoors into their operating systems....
It should be bullet proof now!
and Steve Jobs get's nothing? man he got the shaft. Who wouldn't want the NSA putting backdoors into their operating systems....
Who would want to help them and their perfect OS? I think they did the smart thing and went with over 85%+ marketshare vs less than 10%. Especially when your systems run Windows.
And it's not like the NSA is programming for Microsoft and supposedly putting "backdoors" into Windows (even though MS probably already has). They are just providing help in ways to secure it and patch it. Knowing the NSA they have teams of hackers trying to break it.
SELinux anyone?
SELinux anyone?
am I the only way concerned about this?
one I meant
Now, is this for our security or their security, I wonder.
This is way cooler then China and Russia censorship!!!!! :-D
The Govt has been involved in MS's OS for awhile. After Win 98 you couldn't get erase past sites you've visited online in the registry. After Win 98 you can't even get in there unless you have programs which allow you to view, but not erase. This is old news.
im sure they fixed a lot of holes at vulnerable areas in the OS, also so that no one ELSE can access the public, but them. BACKDOOR THEORY anyone?
take that china, russia, france, israel.
Hey, they've been doing it since XP so I'm fine.
and someday they might even make (or use) a POSIX compliant OS that meets ISO standards too! (like more than a dozen other OS's)
yip. ee.
Would Tom's mind publishing a list of OS's the NSA doesn't have to "help" with security?
M$ based Not Safe Anyhow technology.
NSA has helped Microsoft since Windows XP?
God dammit! Imagine how much the gov infrastructure sucks as you F FAILED since Windows Xp.
If I was that guy I'll shut up and start looking for a job!
For everyone that keeps throwing linux in there. Be aware that the NSA has a patchset for linux that secure systems need to have as well.
The Govt has been involved in MS's OS for awhile. After Win 98 you couldn't get erase past sites you've visited online in the registry. After Win 98 you can't even get in there unless you have programs which allow you to view, but not erase. This is old news.
I struggled a little bit with your poorly constructed thoughts/sentences, but it appears that you believe:
1. Windows keeps track of the websites you visit in the registry.
2. The windows registry is uneditable in versions of windows after Win98.
...
Allow me to help you out. Whatever version of windows you are in, go to the start menu, select run. in the box type "regedit" and hit enter. If you are in Vista/7 it will give you some warnings about protecting your computer, but really it's just trying to prevent you from deleting the "secret" internet cache. Bypass those warnings. When the directory tree loads just delete everything there. Some of it may not delete and some of it may give warnings but ignore all those and when you are done reboot.
P.S. You are an idiot.
P.S. You are an idiot.
Sorry if this was old news.
Would Tom's mind publishing a list of OS's the NSA doesn't have to "help" with security?
Pretty much every OS has AES support so therfor NSA support/help.
I wonder who's software/service the NSA uses for malware protection?
windblow$ and security? That's an oxymoron!
So, the uac debacle was nsa's fault...
Any other backdoor enhancements?
So.. does anyone have the "special" key to unlock NTFS encryption?