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Not Another Insider! What A Surprise.

It’s all about the Passwords and Keys

by Calum MacLeod, VP EMEA, Lieberman Software

At the time of writing, regardless of where Edward Snowden is, I’ve become relatively blasé when it
comes to hearing about yet another security breach, or of stories that Big Brother is watching us. It’s
almost like a traffic policeman going to the press and saying that speeding fines are a money making
racket! As if the average person in the street is going to be surprised.

And of course the rather predictable shock and protests from certain EU governments that the US
government were eavesdropping is really a case of the pot calling the kettle black. For those old enough
to remember last century, the French government admitted to being actively involved in extensive
international spying to try and give French companies an advantage in the international market. So it
seems that when the French President Francois Hollande said allegations that the US bugged European
embassies could threaten a huge planned EU-US trade deal, and that there could be no negotiations
without guarantees that spying would stop immediately, he seemed to conveniently forget that the
French government have been doing this for years. Maybe he just didn’t like the idea of a level playing
field!

In fact one of the earliest examples of industrial espionage goes back to the beginning of the 18th
century with the French stealing porcelain manufacturing methods from the Chinese. What goes around
comes around as they say. During the early 1990s, France was described as one of the most aggressive
perpetrators of industrial espionage, and it seems like the Americans and the French have been having a
ding dong battle for years. And it’s not just these two countries that have either been suspected, or even
caught red handed – they’re all pretty much at it. In fact the Chinese government must be enjoying this
period of relative tranquility since they’re usually blamed for everything.

So spying is not really news, and neither is yet another “insider” abusing privileged access to steal
confidential data from IT systems.

According to NSA Director Keith Alexander, Snowden reportedly “fabricated digital keys that gave him
access to areas way above his clearance as a low-level contractor and systems administrator.” Now I’m
sorry, but anyone who decides that an airport is the place to settle down cannot be that clever. Or
maybe he thought that having seen the Tom Hanks movie “The Terminal”, he’d have a Catherine Zeta
Jones moment and try the chat up line “Would you like an eat to bite?” Who knows, but anyone who
has the slightest understanding of digital keys will know that you don’t just simply fabricate them.

111 Cyber Warnings E-Magazine – August 2013 Edition
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