The NSA 0wnz firewalls and email services

Found on The Inquirer on Friday, 21 December 2007
Browse Internet

Cryptome reports that the US National Security Agency (NSA) has remote administrative access to several of the most popular Windows PC firewalls, and that it has also taken control of a number of supposedly "secure" email services within the past few months.

It writes that the personal computer firewall software products from MacAfee, Symantec and Zone Alarm all "...facilitate Microsoft's NSA-controlled remote admin access via IP/TCP ports 1024 through 1030... without security flag."

"Certain privacy [and/or] full session SSL email hosting services have been purchased [or] changed operational control by NSA and affiliates within the past few months, through private intermediary entities."

The so-called "secure" email services implicated by Cryptome's report include Hushmail, Safe-mail.net, and Guardster.com.

Just a reminder that, if you're not using strong encryption, the NSA is probably reading your email, if not also everything that's on your system's hard drive.

Hushmail has been in the news before for decrypting emails of its users and handing them over to the feds. Just don't entrust your security to a third party; especially none which uses closed source. Big players, like Microsoft for example, always tell users how much more secure closed source is because nobody can sniff through it and hunt for bugs. This now clearly proves that it is not secure at all when the company decides to team up with some government to spy on the users. Now log into your linux router and block 1024-1030 for incoming TCP connections. Seriously, governments do crap like this and at the same time whine about people using stronger and tougher encryption. Makes you wonder if there is some sort or relation, no?