[liberationtech] Recent Der Spiegel coverage about the NSA and GCHQ

[jacob@appelbaum.net (Jacob Appelbaum)]

coderman:
> On Thu, Jan 2, 2014 at 4:37 PM, Jacob Appelbaum <jacob@appelbaum.net> wrote:
>> ...
>> I wanted to write to highlight some important documents that have
>> recently been released by Der Spiegel about the NSA and GCHQ. We worked
>> very hard and for quite some time on these stories - I hope that you'll
>> enjoy them.
> 
> second only to BULLRUN drop; thank you!

The BULLRUN story was good but it really needs to be expanded. I find it
frustrating that the story wasn't better supported by documents.

> 
> 
> 
>> ...
>> OLYMPUSFIRE:
>>
>> http://www.spiegel.de/fotostrecke/nsa-dokumente-so-knackt-der-geheimdienst-internetkonten-fotostrecke-105326-13.html
> 
> off by one error; this is "VALIDATOR"
> 
> 

Whoops - thanks!

> the OLYMPUSFIRE doc is at:
>  http://www.spiegel.de/fotostrecke/nsa-dokumente-so-knackt-der-geheimdienst-internetkonten-fotostrecke-105326-14.html
> 

I'm curious if anyone has yet spotted which well known programs are tied
to OLYMPUSFIRE? I'd guess you probably figured it out, if it is possible
to link it?

> 
> 
> 
>> ...
>> There are quite a few news articles and most of them have focused on the
>> iPhone backdoor known as DROPOUTJEEP - they largely miss the big picture
>> asserting that the NSA needs physical access. This is a
>> misunderstanding. The way that the NSA and GCHQ compromise devices with
>> QUANTUMNATION does not require physical access - that is merely one way
>> to compromise an iPhone. Generally the NSA and GCHQ compromise the phone
>> through the network using QUANTUM/QUANTUMNATION/QUANTUMTHEORY related
>> attack capabilities.
> 
> thank you as well for this clarification.  keep it up :)
> 

The QUANTUM programs are extremely powerful but largely because our
systems are so weak. Imagine if the NSA informed Apple and helped them
to fix their products rather than sabotaging American companies?

All the best,
Jacob