OpenBSD Code Audit Denies FBI Backdoor Allegations

12 days ago former NETSEC CTO Gregory Perry (nicknamed The Prez!) sent an email to BSD project leader Theo de Raadt. In the email Perry alleged that the FBI had backdoors inserted in the cryptographic framework of OpenBSD, and that DARPA dropped funding of OpenBSD for that reason. Perry wrote:

My NDA with the FBI has recently expired, and I wanted to make you
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, the parent organization to the FBI.  Jason
Wright and several other developers were responsible for those
backdoors, and you would be well advised to review any and all code
commits by Wright as well as the other developers he worked with
originating from NETSEC.

This is also probably the reason why you lost your DARPA funding, they
more than likely caught wind of the fact that those backdoors were
present and didn't want to create any derivative products based upon
the same.

Perry's claims generated legitimate concerns in the OpenBSD community, and sparked a full scale audit of OpenBSD code.

After code audits de Raadt has come forward to deny that any such backdoors exist, although he did disclose that there was a serious bug in the Encapsulating Security Payload code that was not brought to the public's attention in 2002. Vulnerability to cypher-block chaining oracle attacks were discovered in some drivers, and fixes have been devised for those bugs. Theo de Raadt believes those vulnerabilities were accidents, albeit serious ones, rather than intentionally inserted bugs.

Some in the IT community immediately had questions regarding the scope of such a maneuver, specifically whether or not Linux may have been targeted by like endeavors. The issue seems not to affect Linux, as the IPSec stack for Linux appears to be entirely original. There were also legitimate concerns with regard to Apple Computers, which has used BSD code in their computers (freeBSD to be exact, but the BSD's have done a lot of code sharing). There has also been a vocal concern involving how fast OpenBSD responded and the apparent speed of the code review. If admitting a problem would cost your company millions of dollars, then would you admit it or come forward with an official denial?

This story will likely die. There are too few people with serious concerns and way too many people who question the validity of Perry's claims. Besides that, though, shouldn't everyone assume that the FBI and the NSA have done everything in their power to make backdoors possible and work from that assumption? It boggles the mind that there are people who might think such claims are outrageous, when in reality it would be outrageous to think that the intelligence community had done no such thing. It's their job to make such things possible, regardless of public opinion.

Online Activist Group Anonymous

A story from BBC News 10 days ago, which somehow escaped my attention until now, described an online activist group called Anonymous. It is to laugh. British hoodlums, as they are known to people more familiar with the "organization," have really been outdoing Americans with their "activism" (Note- soccer fans do not sock any hers). Realizing huge numbers of people don't get news from the Internet, they have taken to putting up posters to draw attention to the Wikileaks story. The BBC does everything but name the site where Anonymous takes those ideas to get mass support. In the midst of being totally screwed up, yotsuba scripters do bring a certain je na sais quoi to the table. That's as much as needs be said. Boing Boing, also.

Merry Christmas

Blessings and good will to everyone out there during the holiday season. May the heavens shine down on you with warmth and grace. Merry Christmas, world. And to myself, from me, next year: Just because you've witnessed the empty turn of the language means you should twice as much enjoy the holiday, even without anyone around. And don't get thrown in a hospital to avoid arrest for enjoying it too much...

Clark Ashton Smith

Somehow in the course of my obsession with macabre, esoteric, fantasy and science fiction writing I missed out on reading Clark Ashton Smith until very recently. Smith gained fame through publication in Weird Tales, just as did his contemporaries H.P. Lovecraft and Robert E. Howard and other great authors. Unlike the other two most famous authors from the pulp magazine, however, Smith has remained undersung and underappreciated by mainstream fantasy enthusiasts.

I just finished Zothique, a collection of stories set in Earth's distant future where the only continent bears that name. It blew me away. Smith had a phenomenal grasp on phantasmagoria and dark, occult themes. Never since reading Lovecraft as a teenager have I been so impressed with an author in that genre. The collection comes highly recommended to anyone who has a fondness for Gothic and horror literature. You won't be disappointed, except by the fact that Smith stopped writing long before his death and could have given the world so much more to read.

Two Hunts (become many)

The Deer: One frozen morning I held fire on a 16-20 point buck, frozen and young. Later that morning I killed a smaller one that outweighed me 2.3 to 1. The distance stepped off to the evidence of point of impact, triangulated and visual: 265 yards. It was inspected by a Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Officer. I gutted, skinned and cleaned it under the tutelage of my father. I emptied a 30-06 in a ravine on Tunica Tribal Land in the small mountainous uplift skirting the southern part of Angola Prison: Another beautiful buck. God knows I wish I had been able to gauge the trajectory better (still only 12). It wasn't as big as the one killed near Lottie.

The Snakes: 3.5 foot long black diamond back in the brambles of the Felicianas. It lived in an outside freezer. Shot at point blank range with J. H.'s gun for that family (glad to be of service in that matter). 4 foot long viper in tree limbs of Old River Road Swamp, and a dozen rattle snakes on the ground, less than a mile from the Louisiana State University campus.

Night Life

Downtown Baton Rouge's 3rd Street has exploded into life, rivaling Austin's 6th Street as a prime night spot. Last night thousands of people converged on the dense collection of bars for an epic throwdown. The streets and parking lots were full of cars and people, not to mention the crowds inside the clubs. The change in the area from a decade ago is mind blowing. Downtown Baton Rouge is back, bigger and better than it ever was before.

The current fashion trend of painted on crotch high mini skirts absoluteley dominated the evening. This is the best thing to happen to fashion since the invention of fabric -- less fabric, more sexiness. It was truly a wonderful thing to behold. There may have been some dudes there too, but they certainly didn't make much of an impression.

The weather was perfect for a night out. Balmy light breezes in the mid to lower 60's made walking around pleasurable in the extreme. The businesses definitely made a fortune in alcohol sales last night, but for some of us it seemed like it would be more fun just to watch the people coming, going and standing still. And people said downtown would never catch on again...

The Louisiana Melting Pot

A post I removed, just a short while ago, The Louisiana Melting Pot, was about a language exchange on the street. It was merely for entertainment. Nobody was the butt of any joke, but I did make up one concrete thing.

I walked into a convenience store where a cashier was speaking Arabic, or so it sounded. "Konichiwa" ended our conversation of what Japanese was available, instead of beginning the exchange. A Jamaican coin was passed, because of the language and intent, none of which was to defraud, and the bill was paid in full, in American dollars. Outside I shouted "Boom." I traveled many more blocks, four of the long ones in our city. I met a Spanish speaker on the street and attempted to get the Spanish word for gun. I bandied about in Castellano: mano (hand) fuego (gun) Co moe say dee say in Esp an yole? (Como se dice en Español - how do you say in Spanish). He appeared slightly hesitant in providing the term (the Spanish word is the word). I asked him just to liven the morning. I walked to a dollar store. An African American man inside said arm to a young female girl. I said to him, "Utras bole - Spanish for forearm." That was the incorrect term for forearm I got from the Spanish speaking man down the street. I just wanted them to look the term up. I gave the little girl 70 cents, two quarters and two dimes, my last silver change in the world. On the way to the University I passed two Asian looking men, one who seemed very Japanese and one who was from further west in Asia. I postulated about their origin. Their are many Hindus, Koreans and Japanese near the campus. I failed to say anything to them (I should have said something in French, since I studied it so long. It's just very difficult to remain practiced in any foreign languages without constant interaction with everyday native speakers). White Anglo Saxon Protestants have been said to have long called my ancestors, Irish men and women, niggers. I'm part Caribeño, Caribbean Island Indian, so I'm even less white than other Irish men. I use my language to try to bend the lines of stereotype and provoke thought, to educate, in what way I can. I used the term perfidious to refer to what I did, and that was incorrect. What I did was not treacherous, and is a good reason for removing the material as it existed. I have recreated the written work with the first person completely intact, which I have learned from inference can be considered very poor form in a writer. It implies ego, and this is something I have lacked my entire life. i have never been overly proud of myself, and go to great lengths to avoid being perceived as someone overly full of pride. This is done.

Blupe

My first music review! My first music review! "No money to be made in any of the arts by someone who refused to perform any of it live in public... brass and woodwind achievements remarkable, and easily proven, but only rarely witnessed..." Doom to the critics! Doom to the critics, I say. I my as well trade in my bassoon and oboe for a kazoo, or practice hand calls for all the good practice has done me. I am in a foul mood now. A foul mood indeed... [trailed off at first expletive]

Deja Vú Sauce

1 cup of half and half
2 tsp. gelled refrigerated beef base
1/3 pound crawfish tail meat
1/2 julienned red bellpepper wilted in peanut oil
1 tbsp. cream cheese

cook for five minutes over medium heat, stirring regularly, then add cream cheese and simmer until it melts, stirring constantly

no garlic or onion for dates, pinch of garlic for married couples