In a statement issued over the weekend, the Redmond company said, “Microsoft does not provide any Government with direct or unfettered access to our customers’ data. In one internal graphic, they replaced the text of Microsoft’s original error message with one of their own reading, “This information may be intercepted by a foreign sigint system to gather detailed information and better exploit your machine.” (“Sigint” stands for “signals intelligence.”) Still, even this passive access to error messages provides valuable insights into problems with a targeted person’s computer and, thus, information on security holes that might be exploitable for planting malware or spyware on the unwitting victim’s computer.Īlthough the method appears to have little importance in practical terms, the NSA’s agents still seem to enjoy it because it allows them to have a bit of a laugh at the expense of the Seattle-based software giant. Passive access means that, initially, only data the computer sends out into the Internet is captured and saved, but the computer itself is not yet manipulated. The automated crash reports are a “neat way” to gain “passive access” to a machine, the presentation continues. Here is Der Spiegel’s explanation of how the information is used: The tools allow NSA agents to receive notifications when the target’s computer crashes. The NSA tactic, revealed in a presentation viewed by Der Spiegel, reportedly uses the agency’s high-tech spying tools to access a machine being used by someone targeted in an NSA investigation. The system is the one encountered by users after a program crashes, asking if they want to send information to Microsoft about the problem. government’s electronic surveillance program, published this weekend by Der Spiegel newsmagazine. National Security Agency are able to intercept crash reports from specific Microsoft Windows-based machines to better understand how to exploit a computer with spyware, according to the latest revelations about the U.S. An example of the information contained in a Windows Error Report.Īgents with the U.S.
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