http://www.vnunet.com/News/1127639 Microsoft, cDc and FBI Cut a Deal: FBI Surveillance Software to be Part of Windows XP Updates By John Robbington 13-12-2001 The controversy, rumours and speculation surrounding the FBI's Magic Lantern tool has attracted ridicule from the internet underground. Not so any more. Now both the infamous hacker group the Cult of the Dead Cow (cDc) and Microsoft have offered a helping hand to the Feds and are preparing to include the surveillance software in all future editions and updates of the new Microsoft Windows XP operating system. "This Magic Lantern could easily become a part of Windows XP Dynamic Updates, or even become a standard part of the operating system." Microsoft spokesperson Bob Null said. "We are really looking forward to experimenting this on a large scale. Our direct Marketing department was jumping out of their pants when they heard we would be doing this." As well they should. - The dreams of both direct marketers and FBI agents coming true at the same time. Also to be included in the future Microsoft Windows XP (R) are Microsoft's trademark profiling software meant for tracking individual users: See: Microsoft licenses profiling software for digital TV [http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/22/23318.html] Microsoft's New Technology enables the FBI to profile individuals through their browsing and typing habits and so provide FBI with useful information about potential terrorists and other criminals. Both Microsoft and FBI point out that individual profiles are not given a name and that the information is stored on the FBI government computers only and not on public computers. But this holds little sway with privacy advocates. Predictive, a Microsoft partner in this venture, has also filed a patent for a biometric system which identifies different individuals within the same household. The system works on recognising people's keystroke, mouse or remote-control usage patterns. It says that it generates random, perfect IDs each time, which have the effect of identifying all the household's PC users, even if they didn't write anything that would otherwise indicate to FBI and Microsoft who is using the computer. Andy Beers, senior product manager for Microsoft said of the deal: "Predictive Networks' solutions will provide customers of Microsoft with state-of-the-art software to understand suspected terrorists' characteristics and interests. The result will be the technology and expertise needed to make thought police operation a seamless reality for the consumer, while enabling the incremental criminalization and hunts for file swapping terrorist within the United States and abroad." Evidently still grizzled about the fact that their security is too bad to afford any real protection, Microsoft has withheld the publishing of a notorious security track record, that of Microsoft being the most often penetrated OS of the Millennium. Reid Fleming, a cDc member and now a secret Microsoft employee, said: "Never before has the US faced a more troublesome enemy. To meet this growing challenge of fileswap terrorism, the FBI has announced an ongoing effort to create and deploy best-of-breed electronic surveillance software." "While we applaud the innovation and drive of the federal law enforcement agency, those of us who are US citizens would be remiss if we did not offer our expertise in this area." A tongue in cheek announcement from the group claims that cDc "has more targeted experience than anyone else in this field". And they're right. Their Back Orifice would do the Magic Lantern job beautifully. Although the hackers are quite confident that the Microsoft and FBI's Engineering Research Facility is more than capable, cDc intends to re-architect Back Orifice from the ground up. "There will be absolutely no shared code between the two projects, in order to skirt detection by commercial antivirus packages. The code will remain totally secret. The software will never surface publicly. And it will be far more stealthy than anything we have ever released, demonstrated or publicly discussed," the group said. Indeed, the central design principle of Magic Lantern and this new breed of Back Orifice could easily be interpreted as "an artificial witness which is capable of intercepting any and all relevant activity during, after and even leading up to the commission of a computer crime", it added. The cDc concluded that the project would deliver "the ultimate intelligence gathering tool to the govenrment. And we intend to construct it, at no cost, exclusively for the use of Microsoft and the federal government," said Fleming. "We are confident that Microsoft and the government will limit the use of this technology only to targets relevant to legitimate investigations," he added, further underscoring the cult's faith in federal law enforcement organisations. "The FBI has a long history of following Title 18 to the letter."