Backdoors in OpenBSD? Reply hazy, try again | Linux Today

Backdoors in OpenBSD? Reply hazy, try again

Written By
Web Webster
Web Webster
Jan 18, 2011

[ Thanks to Amy
Bennett
for this link. ]

“he fallout from last month’s allegations that the
Federal Bureau of Investigations attempted to deploy backdoors in
the OpenBSD operating system are continuing to echo through
developer circles, as more potential clues are unearthed. But if
anything, these clues tend to muddy the answer to the key question:
did the US government employ contractors to insert deliberate
security holes into OpenBSD?

“Here’s what we know so far.

“On Dec. 11, OpenBSD founder and lead developers Theo de Raadt
received an email from Gregory Perry, CEO of GoVirtual Education, a
Florida-based VMWare training firm, in which Perry told de Raadt he
was “aware of the fact that the FBI implemented a number of
backdoors and side channel key leaking mechanisms into the OCF, for
the express purpose of monitoring the site to site VPN encryption
system implemented by EOUSA [an acronym for the US Dept. of
Justice], the parent organization to the FBI.””


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Web Webster

Web Webster

Web Webster has more than 20 years of writing and editorial experience in the tech sector. He’s written and edited news, demand generation, user-focused, and thought leadership content for business software solutions, consumer tech, and Linux Today, he edits and writes for a portfolio of tech industry news and analysis websites including webopedia.com, and DatabaseJournal.com.

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