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In reply to the discussion: NSA Chief General Kieth Alexander and "The Secret War" [View all]Laelth
(32,017 posts)16. I suspect the real danger is this.
It's the zero-day exploits we need to protect.
Like safecrackers listening to the click of tumblers through a stethoscope, the vulnerability researchers use an extensive array of digital tools to search for hidden weaknesses in commonly used programs and systems, such as Windows and Internet Explorer. And since no one else has ever discovered these unseen cracks, the manufacturers have never developed patches for them.
Thus, in the parlance of the trade, these vulnerabilities are known as zero-day exploits, because it has been zero days since they have been uncovered and fixed. They are the Achilles heel of the security business, says a former senior intelligence official involved with cyberwarfare. Those seeking to break into networks and computers are willing to pay millions of dollars to obtain them.
Thus, in the parlance of the trade, these vulnerabilities are known as zero-day exploits, because it has been zero days since they have been uncovered and fixed. They are the Achilles heel of the security business, says a former senior intelligence official involved with cyberwarfare. Those seeking to break into networks and computers are willing to pay millions of dollars to obtain them.
We have spent billions finding weakness in all kinds of computer programs that can be exploited. Because we have not exploited those weaknesses yet, the developers who produced that software have not yet patched the programs. They remain vulnerable, and the NSA is just waiting (keeping that software vulnerable) so that we can attack our enemies when (and if) we need to. Snowden (or another leaker) might be able to give away all the holes we spent years discovering. That would severely curtail our cyberwarfare capabilities and would represent a waste of billions of dollars.
This, I assume, is why we punish whistleblowers and leakers so heinously these days.
-Laelth
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This is absolutely, without a doubt, Orwellian, Outrageous, and Alarming!
Fantastic Anarchist
Jun 2013
#7