German gov't: Windows 8 contains possible backdoor for NSA, Chinese

[unhappycamper]

http://smirkingchimp.com/thread/gaius-publius/51351/german-govt-windows-8-contains-possible-backdoor-for-nsa-chinese

German gov't: Windows 8 contains possible backdoor for NSA, Chinese
by Gaius Publius | August 30, 2013 - 8:25am

I’ve been wondering about Pentagon backdoors into personal computers for quite some time. Now we know. According to the German government, who had people in the room when the Windows 8 backdoor system was designed, Window 8 machines with the “Trusted Computing” chip are not to be trusted. They contain hardware and software that give anyone — including potentially the NSA and even the Chinese — with the embedded “control key” complete access to your system.

From a translation of the original German article (my emphasis and adjustments to the translation):

Windows 8 is an unacceptable security risk for companies and authorities, experts warn the government. [S]o-called Trusted Computing is (said to be) a back door for the NSA.

(“Windows 8 ist ein inakzeptables Sicherheitsrisiko für Behörden und Firmen, warnen Experten der Regierung. Das sogenannte Trusted Computing sei eine Hintertür für die NSA.”)

Looks straightforward to me. Have you bought your PC from the Pentagon? If you bought Windows 8, and if Microsoft is in bed with the NSA, you have.

[bemildred]

1. Unless you run an open-source OS you compiled yourself, you should assume it has backdoors.

And all commercial products, period.

[nebenaube]

3. yeah...

Except that's a hell of a lot of code to review.

[bemildred]

4. Quite. Though a core Unix OS is not that much.

It's the applications that really pile up the code.

[gordianot]

2. Thank you I have been trying to make this point for sometime.

If there is a back door in your software it is potentially available to every one. Even if you trust that the NSA is not spying it does not mean someone else is exploiting the same vulnerabilities built in the computer and software. So when someone thumps the need for cyber security bullshit you have already been sold out.