m********3
发帖数: 3280 | 1 http://blog.seattlepi.com/techchron/2013/06/07/technically-spea
In the wake of revelations around the extent of the NSA surveillance
programs it’s worth asking how such a program would operate, from a
technical standpoint. The feds have been collecting cell phone, Internet and
credit card data and to detect — and ostensibly stop — crimes.
Recently leaked document and previous court cases indicate much of that data
comes from Internet companies and telecom providers we use every day like
Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Verizon and AT&T. So far each associated-
company has denied knowledge of PRISM or that the government had access to
their computer servers. (Though, it’s highly unlikely government officials
would ever use the term “PRISM” with said tech company.)
But when speaking about complicated computer systems it is easy to play word
games and — technically — tell the truth. “Direct access” or “open-
ended access” are terms that can be truthful simply when you install
another system between the first two or by putting any restriction on the
query.
“I find it extraordinarily unlikely that this could happen without these
companies’ cooperation,” says Dan Auerbach, the Electronic Frontier
Foundation’s staff technologist.
Precious few facts exist about the NSA’s digital dragnet techniques. But
there are a few measures that could be implemented that would still keep the
tech companies honest when they say the NSA didn’t have access to their
servers.
Tech companies could send information about users to the NSA on a regular
basis, with this information mirroring what’s in its servers. Or it could
allow access to an application program interface, which would allow the NSA
to make calls of the data it wanted on users.
But Julian Sanchez, a technology research fellow at the Cato Institute,
points out that the NSA doesn’t want tech companies to be aware of the
agency’s search criteria on user data.
The Washington Post reports that documents that say the arrangement between
the tech companies and the feds allowed “collection managers [to send]
content tasking instructions directly to equipment installed at company-
controlled locations,” rather than directly to company servers.
Big tech companies operate their own data centers — vast buildings packed
with computers that underpin the services we use every day like Hotmail,
Gmail and Facebook. This is where your emails and status updates are
physically stored when called up by a web browser. The NSA could install
devices in the data centers for traffic to pass through and be collected.
Not to mention that the data from your computer has to travel through all
the digital hubs that make up the Internet’s infrastructure to get to those
data centers. Sniffing those would allow collection of user data also.
But this leaves the question of decoding the data since sensitive data is
encrypted with security protocols — “secure socket layer” (SSL). If the
sender and the receiver have the decoding key, then they can send encrypted
user information safely back and forth. Only someone with the key could read
it.
Though Auerbach acknowledges that the NSA is “head and shoulders above the
rest of the world” when it comes to breaking encrypted data, he finds the
possibility of the NSA cracking the code for tech companies “pretty
unlikely.”
However, tech companies could provide those private keys for the SSL
certificates to the NSA. And then the NSA could decrypt the messages itself.
In discussing the various possibilities, Sanchez finds this scenario likely
and calls it “consistent” with other NSA practices, such as the case with
AT&T.
By basically allowing a wiretap of the communication between the servers and
the outside world, and providing the decoder to read the messages, tech
companies could honestly say they don’t allow direct access or a “back
door” to the servers — while still allowing the NSA unrestricted access to
the information. | m********3
发帖数: 3280 | | p**********6
发帖数: 3408 | 3 这相当于王连举把密电码交给鸠山，然后说“我没有出卖任何一份游击队的机密电报”。
By basically allowing a wiretap of the communication between the servers and
the outside world, and providing the decoder to read the messages, tech
companies could honestly say they don’t allow direct access or a “back
door” to the servers — while still allowing the NSA unrestricted access to
the information. |
|
