07 dezembro 2013

SUBJUGANDO O POVO AMERICANO :

ZDNet. com - Dec 2013 - clique aqui.
HISTÓRICO. Microsoft classifica governo EUA: é "perene ameaça avançada", é grupo criminoso.
Brad Smith, Microsoft's EVP of Legal and Corporate Affairs, labeled the American government as an "advanced persistent threat" in a December 4 post on The Official Microsoft Blog. The term advanced persistent threat (APT) refers to an attacker, usually an organized group of malicious attackers, that should be considered harmful and dangerous — and an overall method of attack that plays a "long game." Microsoft's explosive post begins by stating, "Many of our customers have serious concerns about government surveillance of the Internet." (...) Like many others, we are especially alarmed by recent allegations in the press of a broader and concerted effort by some governments to circumvent online security measures – and in our view, legal processes and protections – in order to surreptitiously collect private customer data. In particular, recent press stories have reported allegations of governmental interception and collection – without search warrants or legal subpoenas – of customer data as it travels between customers and servers or between company data centers in our industry. If true, these efforts threaten to seriously undermine confidence in the security and privacy of online communications. Indeed, government snooping potentially now constitutes an “advanced persistent threat,” alongside sophisticated malware and cyber attacks.
While the writing is cautiously couched in terms of "some governments" it's crystal clear that Microsoft's "advanced persistent threat" is referring to the ongoing revelations of US government surveillance activities (in leaks by Edward Snowden), and the concerns of Microsoft's American customers. Cybersecurity firm Mandiant has tracked security breaches by advanced persistent threats since 2004; in February 2013 Mandiant reported that the most prolific APT in the world was "One of China's Cyber Espionage Units." To see one of America's biggest companies say it must protect itself from its own government as it would from a group of malfeasant Chinese cyber-spies is a moment for the history books. But security professionals worldwide may not be quite so surprised. Not because hackers issued tinfoil bonnets at birth — most security pros and researchers understand that the same APT techniques used by cybercriminals to steal data from businesses and individuals for financial gain are the same used by nation-states.