NSA Laughs at PCs, Prefers Hacking Routers and Switches

Wed Sep 4 21:05:04 UTC 2013

--- eugen at leitl.org wrote:
From: Eugen Leitl <eugen at leitl.org>

“No one updates their routers,” he says. “If you think people 
are bad about patching Windows and Linux (which they are) then 
they are … horrible about updating their networking gear because 
it is too critical, and usually they don’t have redundancy to be 
able to do it properly.”
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So, they're saying upgrade to every new OS that comes out? Plus,
isn't spelling a requirement for journalists these days???

"...patching Windows and Linux (which they are) then they are..."

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Hijacking routers and switches could allow the NSA to do more than just
eavesdrop on all the communications crossing that equipment. It would also
let them bring down networks or prevent certain communication, such as
military orders, from getting through, though the Post story doesn’t report
any such activities. With control of routers, the NSA could re-route traffic
to a different location, or intelligence agencies could alter it for
disinformation campaigns, such as planting information that would have a
detrimental political effect or altering orders to re-route troops or
supplies in a military operation.
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This is just confused, like much of the rest of the article.  Mostly
FUD with a small kernel of fact inside the FUD wrapper.

scott