Microsoft Confirms NSA’s Role in Vista Security

By NewsFactor Network | January 10, 2007

News emerged this week that top cryptologists at the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) had a hand in some of the security features in Microsoft’s new operating system, Windows Vista.

The NSA, best known for its code-breaking capabilities and covert-spying operations, loaned a team of cryptologists to the software giant for reviewing some of the security features in Vista, which is expected to be used, eventually, by hundreds of millions of computer users around the world.

The NSA, which was once so secretive it was referred to as “No Such Agency,” said helping secure the soon-to-be-ubiquitous OS was a matter of national interest. “Our intention is to help everyone with security,” Tony W. Sager, the NSA’s chief of vulnerability analysis and operations, was quoted by the Washington Post as saying.

Sager also told the Post that the agency helped ensure that Vista was both secure and compatible with existing government software.

Microsoft has confirmed the agency played an active role in the software’s development.

Ongoing Relationship

It is not the first time the NSA has been involved in providing guidance to Redmond. The NSA previously collaborated with Microsoft on the best methods to secure Windows XP and Windows 2000. The agency also has been credited with reviewing the Vista Security Guide published on Microsoft’s Web site.

Although the NSA declined to provide details of its specific involvement with Vista, Sager told the Post it used a “red team” and a “blue team” to test Vista’s security. The red team posed as “the determined, technically competent adversary” to disrupt, corrupt, or steal information. And the blue team helped with Vista’s configuration.

Microsoft said in a statement that it also asked several other groups to review Vista, including the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

Privacy Concerns

Although the NSA claims to…

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