NSA reportedly intercepting laptops purchased online to install spy malware

[kpete]

If a target person, agency or company orders a new computer or related accessories, for example, TAO can divert the shipping delivery to its own secret workshops. The NSA calls this method interdiction. At these so-called “load stations,” agents carefully open the package in order to load malware onto the electronics, or even install hardware components that can provide backdoor access for the intelligence agencies. All subsequent steps can then be conducted from the comfort of a remote computer.

These minor disruptions in the parcel shipping business rank among the “most productive operations” conducted by the NSA hackers, one top secret document relates in enthusiastic terms. This method, the presentation continues, allows TAO to obtain access to networks “around the world.”

http://www.theverge.com/2013/12/29/5253226/nsa-cia-fbi-laptop-usb-plant-spy

[Savannahmann]

1. Merica

[hobbit709]

2. As a matter of routine any new laptop I order is wiped and I do a clean reinstall.

I do this just to get rid of the crap on them.

[MADem]

3. Well, that wouldn't do any good, necessarily....

....or even install hardware components that can provide backdoor access for the intelligence agencies.....

[hobbit709]

4. If they bugged the hard drive, but I do a total wipe with removal of partitions, etc.

I can tell if there's anything extra on the system. I have several boot disks that look for rootkits and other such things.

[RC]

5. All they have to do is replace one or more firmware chips.

Not hard to do with the proper equipment. The manufactures themselves do it when refurnishing their defective returned stock.

[hobbit709]

7. Flash the BIOS

i remember once scanning through 1500 lines of code to find the bad bit. It was on line 1490

[MADem]

6. I think they would use something other than the HD.

Something easy to install, that looks like it belongs. Maybe even something in the power cord...?

http://www.engadget.com/2013/12/29/nsa-can-reportedly-bug-computer-equipment-before-it-sees-buyers/

The division can target a wide array of hardware, too. Another NSA section, ANT, reportedly has a catalog of tools that can install back doors in everything from Cisco and Huawei network systems through to hard drives from most major manufacturers, including Seagate and Western Digital. Some of these bugs can give the NSA "permanent" access, since they're designed to persist if the owner wipes a device's storage or upgrades its firmware.

What's a "wide array," I guess, is the question?

In an "art imitates life" episode of HOMELAND, a MOSSAD agent sleeping with the hero's wife replaced the mouse (HA! mouse--even I've given them up!) on his computer so he could read his stuff.

[woo me with science]

8. K&R