On 8 Sep 99, at 10:43, Ben Nagy wrote:
> Am I the only one that doesn't know what this is about? Reference?
>
> (feeling lazy for not doing own research)
It has been known for some months that NT provides *two* keys for verifying
signature of Microsoft-supplied crypto components. This allows installation
and acceptance of non-MS crypto components without disturbing the signature
of genuine MS components, either by obtaining the second key from MS (legit)
*OR* by replacing the second key with your own (exploit).
It was recently discovered that the internal symbol name for the second key
is "_NSAKEY", inspiring hysterical speculation that this key is there to
allow the NSA a backdoor into every NT box on the planet.
For those who've only seen the hype:
(a) That's not how these keys are used.
(b) The NSA is an organization that might want to -- and be able to --
supplement MS's crypto with their own. They may have requested inclusion of
a second key to allow this; this *is* how these keys are intended to be used.
(c) No exploit involving substitution of the second key is yet known to
exist, except as a theoretical exercise. [Time to start a pool on how long
until we see one?] Note that this provides a much simpler alternative than
trojanning the entire MS crypto suite, so the second key, simply by its
existence, makes the system *generally* much less secure, without necessarily
giving special access to a specific agency.
(d) If there really is a "back door", it probably doesn't say "NSA" on it.
(Or are we supposed to think that?)
David G
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