Wednesday, April 2, 2014

Morning Security Brief: RSA Used Second NSA Tool; Russian Troops in Ukraine, Treating Infectious Diseases, And More

By Holly Gilbert
►Reuters reports that a team of academic researchers have found a second tool that security firm RSA adopted from the National Security Agency (NSA) that would allow the spy agency to conduct wider eavesdropping on some Internet communications. A similar report by Reuters in December 2013 revealed a $10 million contract awarded to RSA by the NSA to adopt a tool called “Dual Elliptic Curve” that had a “deliberate flaw–or ‘back door’–that allowed the NSA to crack the encryption.” According to the professors’ research, the second tool, called the "Extended Random" extension for secure  Web sites, could help crack another security product provided by RSA tens of thousands of times faster. While RSA acknowledges that it works with the NSA, the company has continuously denied any intentional creation of flaws in its security products to allow the agency to better spy on digital communications.
►The head of NATO says that there is no sign Russian troops are planning to pull out from the border with Ukraine, BBC reports. Anders Fogh Rasmusse said just ahead of a NATO summit that a “political dialogue” is still the best way to solve the crisis in the European nation, which lost its region of Crimea to Russia last month in an annexation. Russian president Vladimir Putin told German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Monday that he had ordered a “partial withdrawal of Russian troops near the eastern border of Ukraine.”
http://www.securitymanagement.com/news/morning-security-brief-rsa-used-second-nsa-tool-russian-troops-ukraine-treating-infectious-dise

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