This may be old news to you guys, but I stumbled into it just today.
from CNN:
QUOTE:
Is Windows Wide Open to the NSA?
Reported back door found in Windows would allow the National Security
Agency to enter any PC.
by Elizabeth Heichler, IDG News Service
September 3, 1999, 12:47 p.m. PT
The chief scientist for a Canadian cryptography and security firm has
identified a back door into Microsoft's cryptography system. He charges
that it may be intended to grant access to data on any Windows user's
system to the U.S. National Security Agency.
Andrew Fernandes of Cryptonym has investigated Microsoft's "CryptoAPI"
architecture for security flaws and has found that in Windows NT 4's
Service Pack 5, the company neglected to remove annotations identifying the
security components, according to a Cryptonym statement.
Apparently there are two keys used by Windows, one of which belongs to
Microsoft and allows the secure loading of encryption services, but the
second was annotated in the code with the letters NSA. Fernandes'
investigation builds on the work of encryption experts Nicko van Someren
and Adi Shamir, according to the company statement.
The holder of the second key, if it is indeed the National Security
Agency, could easily load unauthorized security services on any copy of
Microsoft Windows, according to Cryptonym.
A Microsoft spokesman called Cryptonym's report "completely false."
"The key in question is a Microsoft key; it's not held or shared with any
party including the NSA," said Jim Cullinan of Microsoft. He added that
Microsoft has continually opposed the U.S. government's key escrow
proposal, which aimed to give the government the ability to decipher
encrypted computer data.
Microsoft's Windows operating systems provide encryption to Windows
applications via the Microsoft CryptoAPI (application programming
interface), which allows these applications to take advantage of the
security provided by cryptography services fromvarious independent software
vendors, explains Austin Hill, president of privacy software firm
Zero-Knowledge Systems.
Only Microsoft, through the single key that was originally thought to
exist, could certify cryptography toolkits.
Who Can You Trust?
"Microsoft's security architecture is a 'trust-me' solution," Hi says.
"I would plead with Microsoft to start taking secu security systems
reviewed by peers and experts. They can't continue with 'trust me' when
clearly they haven't earned thattrust."
Cryptonym's statement maintains that there is a flaw in the way the
cryptography verification occurs, which means that users can eliminate or
replace the NSA key without modifying Microsoft'soriginal components. A
program demonstrating this can be foundon Cryptonym's Web site.
Fernandes could not immediately be reached in person.
:UNQUOTE
