Guymon

Der NSA geht der Strom aus

James Bamford über das neue Datencenter der NSA in Utah in einer Rezension des Buches The Secret Sentry: The Untold History of the National Security Agency von Matthew M. Aid.

Aid concludes that the biggest problem facing the agency is not the fact that it’s drowning in untranslated, indecipherable, and mostly unusable data, problems that the troubled new modernization plan, Turbulence, is supposed to eventually fix. “These problems may, in fact, be the tip of the iceberg,” he writes. Instead, what the agency needs most, Aid says, is more power. But the type of power to which he is referring is the kind that comes from electrical substations, not statutes. “As strange as it may sound,” he writes, “one of the most urgent problems facing NSA is a severe shortage of electrical power.” With supercomputers measured by the acre and estimated $70 million annual electricity bills for its headquarters, the agency has begun browning out, which is the reason for locating its new data centers in Utah and Texas.

via Bruce Schneier

Neues von der NSA

Die NSA baut ein neues Datencenter:

Hoping to protect its top-secret operations by decentralizing its massive computer hubs, the National Security Agency will build a 1-million-square-foot data center at Utah’s Camp Williams.

The years-in-the-making project, which may cost billions over time, got a $181 million start last week when President Obama signed a war spending bill in which Congress agreed to pay for primary construction, power access and security infrastructure. The enormous building, which will have a footprint about three times the size of the Utah State Capitol building, will be constructed on a 200-acre site near the Utah National Guard facility’s runway.

Congressional records show that initial construction — which may begin this year — will include tens of millions in electrical work and utility construction, a $9.3 million vehicle inspection facility, and $6.8 million in perimeter security fencing. The budget also allots $6.5 million for the relocation of an existing access road, communications building and training area.

via Bruce Schneier

Gerüchteküche: Skype abhören

Ravenhorst verweist auf einen Artikel im Register der nahelegt, dass die Geheimdienste tatsächlich Probleme mit dem Abhören von Skype haben.

News of a possible viable business model for P2P VoIP network Skype emerged today, at the Counter Terror Expo in London. An industry source disclosed that America’s supersecret National Security Agency (NSA) is offering “billions” to any firm which can offer reliable eavesdropping on Skype IM and voice traffic.

The spybiz exec, who preferred to remain anonymous, confirmed that Skype continues to be a major problem for government listening agencies, spooks and police. This was already thought to be the case, following requests from German authorities for special intercept/bugging powers to help them deal with Skype-loving malefactors.

Aber da in dieser Branche Lügen und Desinformation elementarer Bestandteil der Arbeit ist muss sich wohl trotzdem jeder selbst überlegen ob er Skype traut.

NSA spied on everyone

Der ehemalige NSA Analyst Russell Tice berichtet über seine Arbeit:

“The National Security Agency had access to all Americans’ communications — faxes, phone calls, and their computer communications,” Tice claimed. “It didn’t matter whether you were in Kansas, in the middle of the country, and you never made foreign communications at all. They monitored all communications.”

Ob “Sie” nun wirklich alles abhören können sei mal dahingestellt, interessant ist aber natürlich wen sie angehört haben, und da wird es noch krasser:

“An organization that was collected on were US news organizations and reporters and journalists.”

American Cryptology during the Cold War, 1945-1989

Ein Haufen Zeug zum Lesen:

In response to a declassification request by the National Security Archive, the secretive National Security Agency has declassified large portions of a four-part “top-secret Umbra” study, American Cryptology during the Cold War.

The National Security Archive

• Book I (pdf 9.5mb): The Struggle for Centralization, 1945-1960 (National Security Agency: Center for Cryptological History, 1995), Top Secret Umbra, Excised copy, pp. i-xvii and 1-155
• Book I (pdf 9.2mb): The Struggle for Centralization, 1945-1960, pp. 157-287
• Book II (pdf 11.9mb): Centralization Wins, 1960-1972 (National Security Agency: Center for Cryptological History, 1995), Top Secret Umbra, Excised copy, pp. 289-494
• Book II (pdf 8mb): Centralization Wins, 1960-1972, pp. 495-652
• Book III (pdf 8mb): Retrenchment and Reform, 1972-1980 (National Security Agency: Center for Cryptological History, 1998), Top Secret Umbra, Excised copy, pp. i-ix, and 1-116
• Book III (pdf 6.1mb): Retrenchment and Reform, 1972-1980, pp. 117-262

via Bruce Schneier