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Have you not read the Bugtraq articles? The Microsoft bulletin? My advisory? No, I didn't think so. Please read the documents in the tarball I've left in the root of your C: drive. It's quite apt that the CTO was open to this misconfiguration security hole... I've got something to say about Echelon. How many people know about the UKUSA agreement? Yes? No? Here's an excerpt from an article on www.asleofavalon.co.uk: "In the greatest surveillance effort ever established, the US National Security Agency (NSA) has created a global spy system, code-named ECHELON, which captures and analyses virtually every phone call, fax, e-mail and telex message sent anywhere in the world. ECHELON is controlled by the NSA and is operated in conjunction with the General Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) of the UK, the Communications Security Establishment (CSE) of Canada, the Australian Defence Security Directorate (DSD), and the General Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) of New Zealand. These organisations are bound together under a secret agreement, the UKUSA Security Agreement of 1948, whose terms and text remain under wraps even today. . . The extent of British communications monitoring became apparent in a court case: "One shocking revelation about Menwith Hill came to light in 1997 during the trial of two women peace campaigners appealing their convictions for trespassing at the facility. In documents and testimony submitted by British Telecom in the case, Mr. R.G. Morris, BT's head of Emergency Planning, revealed that at least three major domestic fibre-optic telephone trunk lines-each capable of carrying 100,000 calls simultaneously were wired through Menwith Hill, allowing the NSA to tap into the very heart of the British Telecom network. Judge Jonathan Crabtree rebuked British Telecom over his revelations and prohibited Mr. Morris from giving any further testimony in the case for "national security" reasons. . . So, it would appear that every time you call the wife from the office, talk to Mum on her birthday, discuss the upcoming board meeting or decide on that multi-million dollar franchise agreement, it's being intercepted and disseminated to as many as 7 governments and god-only-knows how many other intelligence bodies. Is this information used for profit or gain? According to the European Parliament, it could well be. An official investigation has been conducted into the spying; I quote again from Isle of Avalon: "A preliminary report, released by the European Parliament in January 1998, detailed research conducted by independent researchers that uncovered a massive US spy technology network that routinely monitors telephone, fax and e-mail information on citizens all over the world, but particularly in the European Union (EU) and Japan. Titled "An Appraisal of Technologies of Political Control", this report, issued by the Scientific and Technological Options Assessment (STOA) Committee of the European Parliament, caused a tremendous stir in the establishment Press in Europe. At least one major US media outlet, the New York Times also covered the issuance of the report." So the next time you pick up the phone... just remember who may be listening. European Parliament report - Cryptome.org Britain taps Irish phone links - BBC News BT employess silenced in court - Apc.org Details of Echelon Spy Network - Isle of Avalon French to investigate Echelon - Wired.com Search Google.com for "Echelon" - Google.com Email me - herbless@hushmail.com |