Another interesting story about the supposedly
Indian smartphone surveillance program.
From ZDNet, also available at http://www.zdnet.com/blog/hardware/backdoors-in-rim-nokia-apple-hardware/17626 , FYI,
David
So, is this a fakery, a black helicopters conspiracy theory, or is could it be for real?
From ZDNet, also available at http://www.zdnet.com/blog/hardware/backdoors-in-rim-nokia-apple-hardware/17626 , FYI,
David
Backdoors in RIM, Nokia & Apple hardware?
Summary:
Fakery, a black helicopters conspiracy
theory, or is could it be for real?
Hackers claim to have uncovered documents that
claim mobile handset makers RIM, Nokia and Apple
provided the Indian intelligence services with backdoor
access to spy on communications. But is there
any substance to this claim
My ZDNet colleague Manan Kakkar has
the details, along with copies of
the documents, but for
your convenience I’ll pick out the two
excerpts of interest:
To help you keep up, MM stands for
‘mobile manufacturers’ and RINOA stands for
RIM, Nokia and Apple. I also believe that ‘MI’
stands for ‘Mobile Infrastructure.’
So, is this a fakery, a black helicopters conspiracy theory, or is could it be for real?
Well, for starters, these
are random documents from an unknown
source, so that instantly makes my BS detector
tingling. The hacking group, which go by the
name of Lords of Dharmaraja,’ that
released these documents also claim to have the
source code for the Norton Antivirus product, and
while they’ve posted some information over on
Pastebin (now deleted but a Google cache copy
still exists). While Symantec
has confirmed that the source code
released was indeed part of an
older Norton product (around four or five
years old), none of that does anything to prove the
validity of the documents released.
But would Apple, RIM or Nokia put backdoors into
their hardware? We simply don’t know. The
rules regarding lawful interception
vary the world over and it is entire possible
that the
Indian intelligence services did ask
for backdoors, and that these backdoors were made
available. After all, India is a big market and no
player would want to be shut out.
Make sense, right? Yes, but making sense and
being true are two entirely separate
things.
I’m also automatically wary of backdoor stories.
They’re not new and are almost always
sensationalist nonsense without a shred of
proof. If I believed them all, I’d never touch an
electronic gadget every again!
The truth is that unless we can be shown
something concrete that this backdoor
exists - a single line of code would do me - it’s
all speculation. We’re building a house of cards
based on a document of dubious origins, released by
an unknown group of people who may or may
not have a hidden agenda.
That’s not much to go on.