NSA Asked Linus Torvalds To Install Backdoors Into GNU/Linux [2013]
NSA Asked Linus Torvalds To Install Backdoors Into GNU/Linux [2013]
The NSA has asked Linus Torvalds to inject covert backdoors into the free and open operating system GNU/Linux. This was revealed in this week's...
The story does not tell us how Linus Torvalds responded to the NSA, but I’m guessing he told them he wouldn’t be able to inject backdoors even if he wanted to, since the source code is open, and all changes to it are reviewed by many independent people.
Yeah I'm guessing the answer would be more colorful based on the historical data we have
based on the historical data
This is beautiful. Thank you! lol
Also experience shows that it's possible to backdoor software in very subtle ways that could go years without anyone spotting them. So if he had decided to he probably could have done it, despite Linux being open source.
I would pay money to see daddy Linus flip off some big shot intelligence official
Oh man would die to see his reply. It would probably start with something like
"The fact that I have to explain this to a person who works in a national security agency makes me really worried..."
Ohh so it's the NSA that my failed sudos are reported to!
Switch to doas so feds don't get any more reports!
nah, we have run0 at home
Recent versions of sudo changed that message and now I'm sad 😢
Damn, I'm going to miss those messages one day on my Debian stable server.
I somehow misread that as NBA, and was very confused what basketball had to do with OS backdoors
NSA makes
WAY more sense
Michel jordan want to look at your browser history :D
No, that's Mark McGwire.
A OS backdoor is very simular to a backdoor cut, which allows a player to sneak behind defenders when they are focused on the ball or player with a ball.
NBA coaches have taken inspiration from many different places to perfect their plays. Computer security is just another step.
I read it NASA at first
they wanted to cut to the basket behind the defense
Years ago there was a commit to the Linux kernal that strangly had no author. This got some attention of several of the developers.
Looking into the code that had to deal with network transmission. there was a section that if you tried to get network access in a unusual way had a check that was written something like this.
If (usr_permission = ROOT) ... Instead of If (usr_permission == ROOT) ...
The first giving the user root if invoked and the second checking to see if the user was root.
It's widely thought this was the NSA or some other intelligence agency trying to backdoor lin Linux.
The other side of that coin is the NSA developing SELinux
Or it could of been any person or country. It was a nothing burger and is still a nothing burger
It was clearly an attack. By who is unknown.
Notably this was in 2003 before git (2005) so linux source was in a central bitkeeper repo. So a commit with no associated data about who did it should not have been possible.
Here is a more detailed article. https://lwn.net/Articles/57135/
This incident will be reported
he wouldn’t be able to inject backdoors even if he wanted to, since the source code is open
Jia Tan has entered the chat
The project contains binary blobs anyway so theoretically it wouldn't be super hard
But nobody's going to give them any sentence for that unfortunately.
As long as the backdoor is licenced GPL what's the problem?
good thing he's not an American citizen
Except he is. He lives in portland now afaik
it's over
Here's where Linus did/said the thing. (He is the second person from the right.)
If you want t see Mr. Torvalds questioning this in the video in the link, go straight to minute 43.
What Mr torvalds is that?
Dad.
When was the last analysis of the linux kernel source code ?
Circa 1975, IBM proposed the cipher now called DES, the Data Encryption Standard. It became a worldwide standard for secret key encryption. As IBM originally designed it, DES had a 64-bit key. The National Security Agency (NSA) required that the key be reduced from 64 bits to 56 bits, with the other 8 bits used as a checksum. This made no sense. If a checksum were really needed, then the key could be increased from 64 to 72 bits. It was widely believed that the real reason the NSA made this demand was that it knew how to crack messages using a 56-bit key, but not messages using a 64-bit key. This proved to be true.
Secret Key Cryptography by Frank Rubin
Lol good year for the NSA