What, no article from Chaotic today regarding NASA landing a craft on an asteroid? He only sent it to his three other lists? Whaaaaa! ---- http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB981939629132013437.htm # # February 12, 2001 # # Small Start-Up Helps the CIA # To Mask Its Moves on the Web # # By NEIL KING JR. # Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL # # How's this for a curious pairing? Stephen Hsu and his partners # at SafeWeb Inc. launch a Web site (www.safeweb.com) offering # the utmost in Internet privacy -- and then hook up with the # notoriously intrusive Central Intelligence Agency. # # The new alliance between the Oakland, Calif., entrepreneurs and # the spooks from Langley, Va., shows how serious the CIA is about # improving its spycraft. The agency two years ago set up its own # venture-capital firm, known as In-Q-Tel, to search out just the # sort of innovations that SafeWeb offers. # # The CIA, in this case, wants to use a SafeWeb program to mask # its own movements on the Internet, so it can gather information # incognito. SafeWeb suggests that the CIA also might use its # technology to allow its far-flung agents and informants to # communicate home, without the countries they are spying on ever # knowing. # # What's puzzling is why a tiny, year-old start-up would want to # link up with an agency that is the nemesis of privacy buffs # everywhere. # # "I'm sure we'll take a hit from the 5% of our most paranoid # customers," says Mr. Hsu, SafeWeb's 34-year-old co-founder and # a theoretical physicist by training. But the CIA connection, # he says, is deliberately distant. SafeWeb will provide the agency # with customized software, but the CIA will have no access to # the company's Web computers or to the workings of its core # software, he insists. # # And who better to test the power of its privacy software than # the world's top spies? "If our technology can satisfy them," # Mr. Hsu says, "it can satisfy just about anyone." # # The technology is a clever piece of software called Triangle # Boy that SafeWeb plans to post free this month on the Web. The # CIA, through In-Q-Tel, is investing in a revved-up version of # the software, which can bounce digital traffic around the Web # anonymously, as well as rights to an equity stake in SafeWeb # should the company go public. Neither side will disclose financial # details. # # The CIA has been slow to mine the riches of the Internet for # fear of exposing its own vast computer network to viruses or # hacker attacks. It also worries that others will monitor its # activities if it roams the Web without proper disguise. # # What SafeWeb offers is a chance to move about the Internet without # leaving any trace. Users simply go to the company's Web site # and type in the address of the actual site they are seeking. # SafeWeb's site acts as an intermediary; anyone monitoring the # activity would see only the traffic between the user's computer # and SafeWeb -- and not the user's ultimate destination. The site # recorded more than one million unique visits last month. # # But what really caught the CIA's fancy was Triangle Boy, a # software package that can turn any personal computer into a # surrogate Web server. The system allows users to navigate to # any number of innocuous PC addresses, and then go to the actual # Web site they are seeking -- without leaving a trace. Triangle # Boy works by forwarding the request for the desired Web site # on to SafeWeb's site, which then makes the connection. SafeWeb # developed Triangle Boy to deter companies or countries from # blocking access to its site, as Saudi Arabia did last November. # # CIA specialists say their core interest in Triangle Boy is # anonymous Internet browsing. "We want to operate anywhere on # the Internet in a way that no one knows the CIA is looking at # them," says a senior CIA official with connections to the In-Q-Tel # team. # # But the possible uses go way beyond that. SafeWeb says the agency # also could use the technology as a secure way for its "assets," # or contacts, to communicate with CIA headquarters. The CIA also # suggests that it may one day build a global network made up of # Triangle Boys and servers equipped with SafeWeb-style software # to communicate with employees and informants. CIA Director George # Tenet told the Senate last week that one of his chief ambitions # is "to take modern Web-based technology and apply it to our # business relentlessly." # # The SafeWeb technology could prove just as handy in getting # information covertly into other countries. It was this application # that originally inspired Mr. Hsu to reach out to the CIA last # summer. "I imagined them wanting to use Triangle Boy to get Voice # of America or something like that into countries where it was # blocked," he said. # # Others suggest more devious possibilities. An application like # Triangle Boy, if scattered among hundreds of PCs, could be a # way to cloak a multipronged "cyber attack" on someone else's # computer system. The CIA, along with the Pentagon, has worked # for years to perfect ways to electronically meddle with other # countries' banking systems or electricity grids, and Triangle # Boy could allow them to do it without the target ever knowing # who was behind the attack. "It would be the functional equivalent # of an electronic silencer," says one technology expert with wide # experience in the intelligence community. "You could shoot # electronic bullets right down the pipe without anyone knowing # where they came from." Intelligence officials deny they have # any interest in using Triangle Boy for offensive attacks. # # The CIA wants the strengthened version of Triangle Boy # reconfigured so it can handle the CIA's own much higher-powered # encryption. It also wants to ensure that only its own employees # and contacts can communicate via Triangle Boy. SafeWeb is expected # to deliver the customized version by April. # # Some observers suggest that the CIA's real interest is figuring # out how to crack Triangle Boy and to thwart its use among the # public. Encryption and the spread of Internet-based communications # have made life miserable for the National Security Agency, the # CIA's sister organization responsible for electronic eavesdropping # around the world. Software such as Triangle Boy will render the # challenge that much tougher. # # But the CIA denies the allegation. "We're looking to use new # technology, not to break it," said the CIA official, who added # that the NSA was informed of the Triangle Boy investment and # will later get to inspect the software. But with or without CIA # involvement, the official said, technology is moving too fast # for the NSA to keep up. # # For Mr. Hsu, the key is to manage the relationship with the CIA # without damaging his company's reputation. His customers, after # all, are people who take privacy very seriously, so trust is # a critical part of its business model. There are already glimmers # of suspicion in some Internet chat rooms. "This could be the # greatest NSA trap ever," wrote one skeptic of the SafeWeb site. # "This actually makes it easier for people to spy on you," wrote # another. # # Mr. Hsu, though, insists that the CIA relationship is "completely # separate from our core business." The agency will have no access # to SafeWeb's operations or insider knowledge of its proprietary # software. But on the other hand, he says, if the CIA is pleased # with its customized version of Triangle Boy and puts it to use, # "that will be a big seal of approval from the government."