[Rhodes22-list] Microsoft device helps police pluck evidence from cyberscene of crime

John Lock jlock at relevantarts.com
Wed Apr 30 18:42:28 EDT 2008


At 04:59 PM 4/30/2008 -0500, you wrote:
>Their description of the device requires physical access for the device
>(it's a USB device).
>
>However, the software itself - what does the SOFTWARE require? The same
>thing all other software requires, access to your machine.

It is my understanding that the device is merely a convenience for 
law enforcement.  It encapsulates a whole bunch of arcane and little 
known system level commands and hack utilities that are useful to 
gather info about the target machine.  You don't need a tech wizard 
to gather the evidence.  Any schmo with a search warrant can plug-n-play.

This stuff is all available on the Web, somebody just found a way to 
package it and make a legitimate buck on it.  Creative business 
thinking, if you ask me, but it is scary to think about what might 
happen if they get into the wrong hands.

Could there be some backdoor code in there known only to 
Microsoft?  I'm not sure how likely that is.  Microsoft has been 
hammered badly in the past when loopholes like that got leaked and 
then havoc ensues and creates a PR nightmare.  I doubt they want to 
go there again and the code reviews at the OS level will be pretty strict.

Great scenario on the work at home computer...  I think I know that guy  ;-)

Cheers!

John Lock
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