14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft is again involved in talks over United States’ PRISM spying program, this time in Australia where the local security boss claims that government computers could be monitored using a Windows backdoor.
This isn’t the first time when Microsoft is accused of implemented a backdoor in its operating system to provide unrestricted access to US intelligence agencies, even though Redmond has strongly denied such a scenario, claiming that it only provides user data based on federal request.
Eija Seittenranta, head of the network security department in the Australian government, said in a statement that the country hasn’t tried anything in particular to secure the computers and block any surveillance system that might be employed by the United States under the PRISM program.
“It probably should be noted that our network is not a protected network, it is unclassified,” Seittenranta stated according to The Guardian.
While she hasn’t said it very clear whether a Windows backdoor would provide access to secret data, Seittenranta mentioned that “we don’t have the technical skills to create patches,” so in case such a backdoor exists, it’s still unblocked at this point.
On the other hand, Seittenranta stated that while leaked documents confirm that the PRISM program was indeed launched by the United States, some of the information that reached the web was only speculation, suggesting that Australian’s parliamentary IT systems might not be at risk.
“We are aware there are rumoured to be things like that around,” she said.
Some leaked documents belonging to the German government that got leaked during the summer indicated that local authorities have been advised to avoid using Windows 8 due to a potential backdoor hidden in the operating system.
Microsoft, on the other hand, has quickly denied all accusations, saying that Windows 8 is an important step forward in terms of security and all privacy concerns regarding the operating system are “addressable.”
“Since most users accept defaults, requiring the user to enable the TPM will lead to IT users being less secure by default and increase the risk that their privacy will be violated. We believe that government policies promoting this result are ill-advised,” the company stated.