Dark Reading is part of the Informa Tech Division of Informa PLC

This site is operated by a business or businesses owned by Informa PLC and all copyright resides with them.Informa PLC's registered office is 5 Howick Place, London SW1P 1WG. Registered in England and Wales. Number 8860726.

Database Security
Authentication
Mobile
Privacy
Compliance
Careers and People
Identity & Access Management
Security Monitoring
Advanced Threats
Insider Threats
Vulnerability Management
Comments
Do Antivirus Companies Whitelist NSA Malware?
Newest First  |  Oldest First  |  Threaded View
brianmooreDR
50%
50%
brianmooreDR,
 User Rank: Apprentice
5/7/2014 | 5:05:51 AM
NSA uses some antivirus software to spy thousands of computers
Things are easiest :  NSA uses some antivirus software to spy thousands of computers.


When you have access to the antivirus software, you have full admin access to the whole computer : files, network, USB, ...

Antivirus software watches all processes on the computer but nobody watches antivirus software ..

Antivirus software can read file and send data to distant server.

Users cannot distinct normal antivirus scan process and updates and data spying ...

 

 
Michelle Schenker
50%
50%
Michelle Schenker,
 User Rank: Apprentice
2/6/2014 | 7:16:31 PM
Re: Good news/bad news
I too am impressed but not surprised that the Europeans were quicker to jump on board before the Americans. BItdefender always seems to be ahead of the game from all the research we've conducted over the years. Glad to see they are doing their part to keep the NSA as honest as possible. If anyone wants to read more about what sets Bitdefender apart, here's a helpful review that we put together with our findings: http://www.asecurelife.com/bitdefender-reviews/  And, if you find anything that needs updating, I'd love the heads up on that too. Thanks! 
Marilyn Cohodas
50%
50%
Marilyn Cohodas,
 User Rank: Strategist
12/6/2013 | 12:49:16 PM
Re: Good news/bad news
It's great to see Avira and Bitdefender respond to the  transparency question about NSA malware from Dutch digital rights foundation Bits of Freedom. Now its your turn, Microsoft, Symantec, and McAfee!
Mathew
50%
50%
Mathew,
 User Rank: Apprentice
12/6/2013 | 12:37:33 PM
Re: Good news/bad news
Update: two more AV vendors have come forward -- and we've updated the story accordingly. Avira's CEO has sent Trail of Bits a letter saying it hasn't, and won't, block any malware, full stop. Ditto for the CEO of Bitdefender, who said that his firm first learned of the open letter via the press, saying he'd never received a written inquiry from Bits of Freedom. 

Do any other AV vendors who haven't responded want to make their views known?
DREGstudios01
50%
50%
DREGstudios01,
 User Rank: Apprentice
12/4/2013 | 2:51:59 PM
Re: Good news/bad news
The dystopian fantasies of yesteryear are now a reality.  We've allowed the coming of an age where the civil liberties our forefathers fought so hard for are being eroded by the day.  Freedom of Press, Freedom of Speech and Freedom of Assembly are mere ghostly images of their original intent.  We've woken up to an Orwellian Society of Fear where anyone is at the mercy of being labeled a terrorist for standing up for rights we took for granted just over a decade ago.  Read about how we're waging war against ourselves at http://dregstudiosart.blogspot.com/2011/09/living-in-society-of-fear-ten-years.html
Marilyn Cohodas
50%
50%
Marilyn Cohodas,
 User Rank: Strategist
12/4/2013 | 1:24:37 PM
Good news/bad news
Kudos to the six AV vendors who responded to the Bits of Freedom request. As the for the silence from  McAfee, Microsoft, Symantec and the other holdouts, it's deafening to say the least.  At the very least, they should justify their lack of transperncy with their reasons why.


NSA Appoints Rob Joyce as Cyber Director
Dark Reading Staff 1/15/2021
Register for Dark Reading Newsletters
White Papers
Video
Cartoon Contest
Write a Caption, Win an Amazon Gift Card! Click Here
Latest Comment: I like the old version of Google assistant much better.
Current Issue
2020: The Year in Security
Download this Tech Digest for a look at the biggest security stories that - so far - have shaped a very strange and stressful year.
Flash Poll
Assessing Cybersecurity Risk in Today's Enterprises
Assessing Cybersecurity Risk in Today's Enterprises
COVID-19 has created a new IT paradigm in the enterprise -- and a new level of cybersecurity risk. This report offers a look at how enterprises are assessing and managing cyber-risk under the new normal.
Twitter Feed
Dark Reading - Bug Report
Bug Report
Enterprise Vulnerabilities
From DHS/US-CERT's National Vulnerability Database
CVE-2020-8567
PUBLISHED: 2021-01-21
Kubernetes Secrets Store CSI Driver Vault Plugin prior to v0.0.6, Azure Plugin prior to v0.0.10, and GCP Plugin prior to v0.2.0 allow an attacker who can create specially-crafted SecretProviderClass objects to write to arbitrary file paths on the host filesystem, including /var/lib/kubelet/pods.
CVE-2020-8568
PUBLISHED: 2021-01-21
Kubernetes Secrets Store CSI Driver versions v0.0.15 and v0.0.16 allow an attacker who can modify a SecretProviderClassPodStatus/Status resource the ability to write content to the host filesystem and sync file contents to Kubernetes Secrets. This includes paths under var/lib/kubelet/pods that conta...
CVE-2020-8569
PUBLISHED: 2021-01-21
Kubernetes CSI snapshot-controller prior to v2.1.3 and v3.0.2 could panic when processing a VolumeSnapshot custom resource when: - The VolumeSnapshot referenced a non-existing PersistentVolumeClaim and the VolumeSnapshot did not reference any VolumeSnapshotClass. - The snapshot-controller crashes, ...
CVE-2020-8570
PUBLISHED: 2021-01-21
Kubernetes Java client libraries in version 10.0.0 and versions prior to 9.0.1 allow writes to paths outside of the current directory when copying multiple files from a remote pod which sends a maliciously crafted archive. This can potentially overwrite any files on the system of the process executi...
CVE-2020-8554
PUBLISHED: 2021-01-21
Kubernetes API server in all versions allow an attacker who is able to create a ClusterIP service and set the spec.externalIPs field, to intercept traffic to that IP address. Additionally, an attacker who is able to patch the status (which is considered a privileged operation and should not typicall...