Does Windows Vista Send Information to the Government?

by Bill Lindner on 20070726 @ 00:13AM EST

Is there more to Windows Vista being big brother than was originally thought? There appear to be features and services bundled into Windows Vista that stay in touch with the government and their associates, too.

If this is true, Microsoft has gone too far. This post was in an abandonia.com forum, and appeared to get overloaded from all the attention it was getting. Whitedust.net had a copy of it on their site.

A forum user switched to Windows Vista a month ago and actually had some good luck with it. He began noticing latency on his home network connection. He used port sniffing software and networking tools to see what was going on. What he found he referred to as "foundation shaking." There are some graphical images of a peerguardian 2 log with some very interesting information. The computer was in an idle state.

It shows the computer connected to the following (in his own words):

• DoD Network Information Center (Department of Defense)
• United Nations Development Program (Seems to correlate to the parent branch of the U.N. Informatics Division)
• Halliburton Company (We all know these guys)
• Ministry of Defense Data Return Agent
• DOHS-Recon (traceroutes for this address provided nothing, suspected blocks on traceroute. Many of us who are monitoring this situation have suspected the acronym stands for the Department of Homeland Security Reconnaissance. This is merely a guess, but an educated one at that)

I ran traceroutes on the IP's, and sure enough they came back government owned. I thought this might be exclusive to my system, so I ran over to a friend of mine who upgraded to Vista when it first became available. After installing monitoring software on his system, the hits it caught on his network were immediate and almost identical in source.

Is there anyone in the abandonia community with a US based connection who is experiencing this watchdog behavior? Are any foreign Vista users experiencing similar attacks from their own countries ministries and governing agencies?

It would be interesting to see how common this is. If Microsoft is doing this to all their Windows Vista consumers, it's time to take a long hard look at how they do things.

http://www.infopackets.com/channels/en/windows/bills_links_and_more/2007/20070726_does_windows_vista_send_information_to_the_government.htm

~~~

Vista Users Beware: Big Brother is Watching

by Bill Lindner on 20070709 @ 00:04AM EST

Softpedia.com released a nice article regarding the plethora of Windows Vista "features and services" that collect, maintain and transmit your personal data to Microsoft and/or their "controlled subsidiaries and affiliates."

If you're going to use Vista, you really don't have much say in the matter. Microsoft makes it crystal-clear that they're gathering information.

The Vista Privacy Statement and the End User License Agreement (EULA) references most of these "features and services", but not all of them.

"This disclosure focuses on features that communicate with the Internet and is not intended to be an exhaustive list. It does not apply to other Microsoft sites, services and products."

Microsoft also makes it perfectly clear in the EULA that you are licensing it, not owning it. The Vista EULA is bad news for consumers.

With Vista, Microsoft provides a set of Internet-based services, which gives them full control of you and your data, including alteration and cancellation powers. Some of these "services" notify you that data is being collected and shared and some of them don't. The only way to stop this data mining is to know which services and features collect the data and turn them off or to not use them. Vista doesn't play nicely with third party freeware that performs some functions just as well as or better than the ones built into Windows.

Here are just a few of the services that collect and send data to Microsoft:

Auto Root Update, Customer Experience Improvement Program (CEIP), Device Manager Digital Certificates, Driver Protection, Dynamic Update, File Association Web Service, Games Folder, Input Method Editor (IME), Installation Improvement Program, Internet Explorer 7, IPv6 Network Address Translation (NAT) Traversal Service (Teredo), Network Awareness, Network Connectivity Status Icon, Parental Controls, Peer Name Resolution Service, Plug and Play, Plug and Play Extensions, Program Compatibility Assistant, Rights Management Services (RMS) Client, Update Root Certificates, Windows Control Panel, Windows Mail (Windows Live Mail, Hotmail, or MSN Mail), Windows Media Digital Rights Management and Windows Media Player.

There are several more listed on the Vista Privacy Statement site with explanations of what they do. We won't even go into detail about the nightmare or ineptitude of Windows Genuine Advantage.

With all these services running, it's no wonder Vista requires special hardware. Forcing everyone to buy a new computer helps a lot of the Microsoft "controlled subsidiaries and affiliates" sell their expensive hardware. Vista requires heftier hardware so Microsoft can gain full control of you and your system. There are more than enough issues here to raise several red flags regarding user privacy.

Microsoft tells you that you can disable these "features and services' or not use them. If previous history holds true though, turning off or disabling some of these services may cause glitches or potentially harm your system.

The two paragraphs below are part of the Windows Vista Privacy Statement:

"The personal information we collect from you will be used by Microsoft and its controlled subsidiaries and affiliates to provide the service(s) or carry out the transaction(s) you have requested or authorized, and may also be used to request additional information on feedback that you provide about the product or service that you are using; to provide important notifications regarding the software; to improve the product or service, for example bug and survey form inquiries; or to provide you with advance notice of events or to tell you about new product releases".

"Microsoft may disclose personal information about you if required to do so by law or in the good faith belief that such action is necessary to: (a) comply with the law or legal process served on Microsoft; (b) protect and defend the rights of Microsoft (including enforcement of our agreements); or (c) act in urgent circumstances to protect the personal safety of Microsoft employees, users of Microsoft software or services, or members of the public."

For more insight and information, see the Windows Vista privacy statement and the EULA (PDF) for Vista Home Basic, Home Premium and Ultimate.

http://www.infopackets.com/channels/en/windows/bills_links_and_more/2007/20070709_vista_users_beware_big_brother_is_watching.htm

~~~

American Policemen Encourage Intrusion to People's Windows PCs

Hacking for a good cause

,----[ Quote ]
| Brad Willman was installing networking equipment out of an emergency van in
| British Columbia when a policeman showed up and asked for him. Willman knew
| the officer from a case he was involved with a couple of years earlier, so he
| didn't worry -- until he arrived at the police station and was introduced to
| a couple of U.S. cops.   
`----

http://www.infoworld.com/article/07/12/24/Hacking-for-a-good-cause_1.html

A future of 'sharing' a computer with potentially everyone in the network,
assuming everyone is already a criminal.


Related:

FBI ducks questions about its remotely installed spyware

,----[ Quote ]
| There are plenty of unanswered questions about the FBI spyware that, as we
| reported earlier this week, can be delivered over the Internet and implanted 
| in a suspect's computer remotely.
`----

http://news.com.com/8301-10784_3-9747666-7.html


Dual_EC_DRBG Added to Windows Vista

,----[ Quote ]
| Microsoft has added the random-number generator Dual_EC-DRBG to Windows
| Vista, as part of SP1. Yes, this is the same RNG that could have an NSA
| backdoor.  
|
| It's not enabled by default, and my advice is to never enable it. Ever.
`----

http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2007/12/dual_ec_drbg_ad.html


Microsoft Sells Out to NSA... again!

,----[ Quote ]
| So before you go to the store and get that shiny new laptop, consider asking
| the retailer to not put Windows on there because not doing so could end up
| being a serious mistake.  
`----

http://binaryfreedom.info/node/282


Dodd's Filibuster Threat Stalls Wiretap Bill

,----[ Quote ]
| Senator Chris Dodd won a temporary victory today after his threats of a
| filibuster forced Democratic leadership to push back consideration of a
| measure that would grant immunity to telecom companies that were complicit in
| warrantless surveillance.  
`----

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2007/12/17/dodds-filibuster-threat-_n_77220.html


Why proprietary code is bad for security

,----[ Quote ]
| Tho Skype is using an encrypted protocol, it’s still their own, non-disclosed
| code and property. So we don’t know what it contains.
|
| [...]
|
| It’s time to stop accepting that we are the bad guys, and to stop consuming
| things we just don’t understand (and cannot, because they are proprietary,  
| closed-source systems).
|
| Say no to companies, or even governments who treat you like this. Start using
| open sourced products and protocols wherever you can. Even if you could
| still never understand the code used in these systems, there are still lots
| of people who can, and who will examine it. The magic word here is “peer
| review” - your friend or buddy or neighbour may be able to understand all
| that, and to help. No, not with Skype or Windows or any black box from Cisco.      
`----

http://wolfgang.lonien.de/?p=394


Did NSA Put a Secret Backdoor in New Encryption Standard?

,----[ Quote ]
| Which is why you should worry about a new random-number standard that
| includes an algorithm that is slow, badly designed and just might contain a
| backdoor for the National Security Agency.  
`----

http://www.wired.com/politics/security/commentary/securitymatters/2007/11/securitymatters_1115


,----[ Quote ]
| "Is this a good idea or not? For the first time, the giant software maker
| is acknowledging the help of the secretive agency, better known for
| eavesdropping on foreign officials and, more recently, U.S. citizens as
| part of the Bush..."
`----

http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2007/01/nsa_helps_micro_1.html


Animal Rights Activists Forced to Hand Over Encryption Keys

,----[ Quote ]
| If you remember, this was sold to the public as essential for fighting
| terrorism. It's already being misused.
`----

http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2007/11/animal_rights_a.html


Microsoft could be teaching police to hack Vista

,----[ Quote ]
| Microsoft may begin training the police in ways to break the
| encryption built into its forthcoming Vista operating system.
`----

http://www.vnunet.com/vnunet/news/2150555/microsoft-teaching-police-hack


UK holds Microsoft security talks

,----[ Quote ]
| "UK officials are talking to Microsoft over fears the new version of
| Windows could make it harder for police to read suspects' computer files."
`----

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4713018.stm


For Windows Vista Security, Microsoft Called in Pros

,----[ Quote ]
| The NSA also declined to be specific but said it used two groups — a “red
| team” and a “blue team” — to test Vista’s security. The red team, for
| instance, posed as “the determined, technically competent adversary” to
| disrupt, corrupt or steal information. “They pretend to be bad guys,” Sager
| said. The blue team helped Defense Department system administrators with
| Vista’s configuration .    
|
| Microsoft said this is not the first time it has sought help from the NSA.
| For about four years, Microsoft has tapped the spy agency for security
| expertise in reviewing its operating systems, including the Windows XP
| consumer version and the Windows Server 2003 for corporate customers.  
`----

http://www.manpreet.co.in/tech-stuff/microsoft-vista-developed-with-help-from-us-national-security-agency/


Microsoft patents the mother of all adware systems

,----[ Quote ]
| The adware framework would leave almost no data untouched in its quest to
| sell you stuff. It would inspect "user document files, user e-mail files,
| user music files, downloaded podcasts, computer settings, computer status
| messages (e.g., a low memory status or low printer ink)," and more. How could
| we have been so blind as to not see the marketing value in computer status
| messages?    
`----

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070717-microsoft-patents-the-mother-of-all-adware-systems.html


United States Government Online Watchdogs? Part of the war on terror?

,----[ Quote
| Is there anyone in the abandonia community with a US based connection who is
| experiencing this watchdog behavior? Are any foreign Vista users experiencing
| similar attacks from their own countries ministries and governing agencies?"  
`----

http://www.whitedust.net/news/3984/United_States_Government_Online_Watchdogs?_Part_of_the_war_on_terror?.../


Vista as the mother of all spyware...

http://news.softpedia.com/news/Forget-about-the-WGA-20-Windows-Vista-Features-and-Services-Harvest-User-Data-for-Microsoft-58752.shtml


Police eats your CPU cycles and disk space...

,----[ Quote ]
| Vista—Microsoft’s latest operating system—may prove to be most
| appropriately named, especially for those seeking evidence of how a
| computer was used.
`----

http://www.abanet.org/journal/ereport/jy13tkjasn.html


Will Microsoft Put The Colonel in the Kernel?

,----[ Quote ]
| "The kernel meets The Colonel in a just-published Microsoft patent
| application for an Advertising Services Architecture, which delivers targeted
| advertising as 'part of the OS.'  
`----

http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/07/14/043200


Austria OKs terror snooping Trojan plan

,----[ Quote ]
| Austria has become one of the first countries to officially sanction the use
| of Trojan Horse malware as a tactic for monitoring the PCs of suspected
| terrorists and criminals.  
|
| [...]
|
| Would-be terrorists need only use Ubuntu Linux to avoid the ploy. And even if
| they stuck with Windows their anti-virus software might detect the malware.
| Anti-virus firms that accede to law enforcement demands to turn a blind eye
| to state-sanctioned malware risk undermining trust in their software, as
| similar experience in the US has shown.    
`----

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/10/23/teutonic_trojan/


Schäuble renews calls for surreptitious online searches of PCs

,----[ Quote ]
| In his speech towards the end of the national conference of the Junge Union,
| the youth organization of the ruling conservative Christian Democratic Union
| (CDU), in Berlin the Federal Minister of the Interior Wolfgang Schäuble has
| again come out in favor of allowing authorities to search private PCs
| secretly online and of deploying the German Armed Forces in Germany in the
| event of an emergency.    
`----

http://www.heise.de/english/newsticker/news/97755/from/rss09


Botnet 'pandemic' threatens to strangle the net

,----[ Quote ]
| Cerf estimated that between 100 million and 150 million of the
| 600 million PCs on the internet are under the control of hackers,
| the BBC reports.
`----

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/01/26/botnet_threat/


Encrypted E-Mail Company Hushmail Spills to Feds

,----[ Quote ]
| Hushmail, a longtime provider of encrypted web-based email, markets itself by
| saying that "not even a Hushmail employee with access to our servers can read
| your encrypted e-mail, since each message is uniquely encoded before it
| leaves your computer."  
|
| But it turns out that statement seems not to apply to individuals targeted by
| government agencies that are able to convince a Canadian court to serve a
| court order on the company.  
`----

http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2007/11/encrypted-e-mai.html


No email privacy rights under Constitution, US gov claims

,----[ Quote ]
| This appears to be more than a mere argument in support of the
| constitutionality of a Congressional email privacy and access scheme. It
| represents what may be the fundamental governmental position on
| Constitutional email and electronic privacy - that there isn't any. What is
| important in this case is not the ultimate resolution of that narrow issue,
| but the position that the United States government is taking on the entire
| issue of electronic privacy. That position, if accepted, may mean that the
| government can read anybody's email at any time without a warrant.      
`----

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/11/04/4th-amendment_email_privacy/


Can FOSS save your privacy?

,----[ Quote ]
| Well, the Bush regime has already claimed "we don't need no steenkin
| warrant" to listen to your phone calls, see what websites you visit,
| scan your emails, and now, with the revelation of a new
| "signing statement", it?s even claiming the authority to read your
| physical mail. When the government becomes the biggest threat to
| your privacy, you better take advantage of the legion of privacy
| advocates creating FOSS to help you retain what little bit of privacy
| you can still have.
|
| [...]
|
| However, just because your privacy is being threatened doesn't mean
| you have to accept it. There is a growing array of FOSS being
| developed to provide us with the ability to control our privacy.
| It's about time we all start using it.
`----

http://www.freesoftwaremagazine.com/blogs/can_foss_save_your_privacy


Polippix: The Political Linux Distribution of Denmark

,----[ Quote ]
| From what I have been able to determine, PROSA, the Association of
| Computer Professionals, is the group responsible for its development
| and distribution. Their feelings on how privacy is being affected in
| the country of Denmark are rather obvious, and it looks as if they
| are not going to take these concerns lying down.
`----

http://www.madpenguin.org/cms/?m=show&id=7822


Microsoft exec calls XP hack 'frightening'

,----[ Quote ]
| "You can download attack tools from the Internet, and even script kiddies can
| use this one," said Mick.
|
| Mick found the IP address of his own computer by using the XP Wireless
| Network Connection Status dialog box. He deduced the IP address of Andy's
| computer by typing different numerically adjacent addresses in that IP range
| into the attack tool, then scanning the addresses to see if they belonged to
| a vulnerable machine.    
|
| Using a different attack tool, he produced a security report detailing the
| vulnerabilities found on the system. Mick decided to exploit one of them.
| Using the attack tool, Mick built a piece of malware in MS-DOS, giving it a
| payload that would exploit the flaw within a couple of minutes.  
`----

http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-6218238.html


Duh! Windows Encryption Hacked Via Random Number Generator

,----[ Quote ]
| GeneralMount Carmel, Haifa – A group of researchers headed by Dr. Benny
| Pinkas from the Department of Computer Science at the University of Haifa
| succeeded in finding a security vulnerability in Microsoft's "Windows 2000"
| operating system. The significance of the loophole: emails, passwords, credit
| card numbers, if they were typed into the computer, and actually all
| correspondence that emanated from a computer using "Windows 2000" is
| susceptible to tracking. "This is not a theoretical discovery. Anyone who
| exploits this security loophole can definitely access this information on
| other computers," remarked Dr. Pinkas.        
|
| Editors Note:  I believe this "loophole" is part of the Patriot Act, it is
| designed for foreign governments.  Seriously, if you care about security,
| privacy, data, trojans, spyware, etc., one does not run Windows, you run
| Linux.  
`----

http://www.linuxelectrons.com/news/general/14365/duh-windows-encryption-hacked-via-random-number-generator


"Trusted" Computing

,----[ Quote ]
| Do you imagine that any US Linux distributor would say no to the
| US government if they were requested (politely, of course) to add
| a back-door to the binary Linux images shipped as part of their
| products ? Who amongst us actually uses the source code so helpfully
| given to us on the extra CDs to compile our own version ? With
| Windows of course there are already so many back-doors known and
| unknown that the US government might not have even bothered to
| ask Microsoft, they may have just found their own, ready to
| exploit at will. What about Intel or AMD and the microcode on
| the processor itself ?
`----

http://tuxdeluxe.org/node/164


,----[ Quote ]
| In relation to the issue of sharing technical API and protocol
| information used throughout Microsoft products, which the
| states were seeking, Allchin alleged that releasing this
| information would increase the security risk to consumers.
|
|        "It is no exaggeration to say that the national security is
|        also implicated by the efforts of hackers to break into
|        computing networks. Computers, including many running Windows
|        operating systems, are used throughout the United States
|        Department of Defense and by the armed forces of the United
|        States in Afghanistan and elsewhere."
`----

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Allchin


How NSA access was built into Windows

,----[ Quote ]
| A careless mistake by Microsoft programmers has revealed that
| special access codes prepared by the US National Security Agency
| have been secretly built into Windows.
|
| [...]
|
| The first discovery of the new NSA access system was made two years
| ago by British researcher Dr Nicko van Someren. But it was only a
| few weeks ago when a second researcher rediscovered the access
| system. With it, he found the evidence linking it to NSA.
`----

http://www.heise.de/tp/r4/artikel/5/5263/1.html


NSA Builds Security Access Into Windows

,----[ Quote ]
| A careless mistake by Microsoft programmers has shown that special access
| codes for use by the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) have been secretly
| built into all versions of the Windows operating system.
`----

http://www.techweb.com/wire/story/TWB19990903S0014

http://schestowitz.com/UseNet/2007/December_2007_3/msg00441.html

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Does Windows Vista Send Information to the Government?(My Comments)