tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4559002410879446409.post62607621354794241..comments2024-03-28T16:12:40.861+01:00Comments on Electrospaces.net: The BOUNDLESSINFORMANT interfaceP/Khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12681178058475882593noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4559002410879446409.post-47308640772615445202013-12-09T16:38:24.704+01:002013-12-09T16:38:24.704+01:00Nice catch on that 4th Spanish slide and three che...Nice catch on that 4th Spanish slide and three cheers for the additional analysis above.<br /><br />I'm thinking the journalists cannot open menus etc in B'informant because they don't have the software nor or derived record summary database (derived from the multi-trillion record main databases) that B'informant draws on to make its displays.<br /><br />So when you see something open and covering the main B'informant page, it's because someone made a screenshot for a ppt presentation. Snowden seemed to have attended a lot of these and likely NSA kept them around as tutorials. They would have been relatively safe downloads from his perspective -- if caught, just new guy learning job. That's what tutorials are for.<br /><br />I don't think newspapers are taking screenshots of popups. More likely, there is a stack of full page B'informant 'printouts', one for each country of interest, maybe convenient archive for top guys, maybe made by Snowden with disclosure in mind. <br /><br />We could test this -- document forensics -- by looking at the slides to see if they had to be dithered up (or not) to get them to the size shown.<br /><br />I'm wondering if Snowden took any operational software application code with him. <br /><br />The thing that would make the most sense is malware -- so other countries could defend themselves against inserted malware via checks provided by anti-viral companies, for example Kapersky Labs is very good at this, if they have sample code.<br /><br />He could also have taken front-end desktop portals like B'informant. It would not be hard to make small faux databases that could drive simulated displays. Then people could play with all the menu options. However this would have to be fairly low down in priorities.JustSayingnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4559002410879446409.post-61061802300584091852013-12-08T21:08:40.047+01:002013-12-08T21:08:40.047+01:00Thank you for your message. I don't want to ac...Thank you for your message. I don't want to accuse Greenwald of lying, but I think he should stick to the facts, for the sake of his own credibility. Now we see too often exaggerated claims in the papers, which are not fully backed by the documents. <br /><br />Some other points:<br /><br />Many people wonder about the US government agencies using rather insecure Windows systems, but these are in fact secure versions of the Windows operating system, not those used by ordinary customers.<br /><br />Of course it's possible that in the presentation slide there's an earlier version of the BOUNDLESSINFORMANT tool, which could also explain some of the differences, like in the layout. <br /><br /> P/Khttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12681178058475882593noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4559002410879446409.post-27199229844889621902013-12-08T03:14:40.024+01:002013-12-08T03:14:40.024+01:00"Now that we have a picture of the complete B...<br />"Now that we have a picture of the complete BOUNDLESSINFORMANT interface, we've seen that this tool has many options to present information about NSA's (meta)data collection."<br /><br />I don't think this is the complete picture. I think there's lots more.<br /><br />For one, I have reason to believe that the chart published in El Mundo doesn't represent the same version of the tool as the other screencaps.<br /><br />Let me tell what I can discern. (some of the same things as you have)<br /><br />The version in the FAQ is a web interface: shown here is Internet Explorer 7 running on XP. This more than anything screams "information herein is dated!" It also screams "Security risk!"<br /><br />SIGAD frame: this is a searchable listbox. I think it is indeed a list of SIGADS. followed in most cases by a coverterm. Need better image.<br /><br />Collection information Frame:<br /><br />Contains two tabs, we only see 1.<br /><br />On the Visible subframe we have a number of widgets:<br /><br />"Active[?] Summary" - it's not clear whether the number of sub items is static or dynamic. There appears to be up and down arrow icons next to these. Perhaps a trend indicator.<br /><br />A graph - "Total Collection - Last 7 Days" The probable scale 30 million in Increments of 5 million. In this graph the tops of two bars are labeled with something other than a date. In the main Map view we see a slider controlling the view, the maximum is last 30 days, but it would appear last 7 is also an option. Either that or the capture was made when last 7 was really the technical limit. <br /><br />Signal Profile -- In this version, we have 4 different types, in the other we have 7. In this version, we also have a subtitle of some kind.<br /><br />Most volume -- this is also formatted differently than the graphs. the top bar is not a sigad and has a star and arrow icon next to it.<br /><br />NSA Leaders- this would appear to correspond to "top 5 techs", also something different about the first line, it's not a bar graph like the others<br /><br />Top 5 techs vs NSA Leaders, a difference in language, but the same information. Except again we have a difference in the format of the top bar.<br /><br />As for who cut the images, It wasn't Greenwald. It's really too much work, and I don't think he has the appropriate skillset The image in the FAQ is a presentation, so that eliminates Snowden from that one. <br /><br />Snowden described himself as an Infrastructure Analyst in his 12 minute video. (previously a system administrator). He therefore would have had the opportunity to use this tool. And therefor grab screenshots from his own workstation. However he was also an exceptionally skilled hacker, who grabbed stuff that may have been well beyond his clearance.<br /><br />I think the latter, someone else made them a presentation, here's why: <br /><br />In a few cases, we get the pages original PDFs, this happened in LeMONDE and also accounts for the split you see on the El Mundo low-res graph (within these PDFs internally, there are two images making the chart). El Mundo extracted the images from the PDF and pasted them together, poorly.<br /><br /><br />And now for Opinion:<br /><br />About Greenwald, I don't think him lying, I think him correct in the main, but mistaken on some points, and rather stubborn, and also hasty. The desire to generate articles quickly may be compromising quality. (mystifying CBC redacts, for example. I don't know if that was him or the CBC... but damnit) I want him to step up his game and release some additional supporting documents, it's now 6 months in. He should be willing to refine his analysis based on additional evidence. He's gotten a bit better, but so have the questions. I also get a sense that he wants to release more. But may be prevented by overcautious editors.<br /><br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com