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A bill has been introduced that, if passed, would put a slight check on the NSA's exploitation of software vulnerabilities:
A bill proposed in Congress on Wednesday would require the U.S. National Security Agency to inform representatives of other government agencies about security holes it finds in software like the one that allowed last week's "ransomware" attacks.
Under former President Barack Obama, the government created a similar inter-agency review, but it was not required by law and was administered by the NSA itself.
The new bill would mandate a review when a government agency discovers a security hole in a computer product and does not want to alert the manufacturer because it hopes to use the flaw to spy on rivals. It also calls for the review process to be chaired by the defense-oriented Department of Homeland Security rather than the NSA, which spends 90 percent of its budget on offensive capabilities and spying.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by MadTinfoilHatter on Friday May 19 2017, @04:33AM (1 child)
This won't put any kind of checks on anything. It only means that the vulnerabilities previously exploitable by the NSA, will now also be exploitable by the CIA, FBI, and probably some other TLA:s as well. DHS? (Shudders.)
Of course it also means that there will be even more potential holes for those vulnerabilities to leak to criminals not employed by any TLA, and we'll have another round of ransomware pwnage. Yay for "checks and balances".
(Score: 4, Insightful) by takyon on Friday May 19 2017, @05:13AM
It could help the vulnerabilities leak faster. Just spread it around to all of the agencies, and watch the weakest link reveal them all. Hell, they might get sold instead of leaked.
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