US and Russia Set Up Cyber Cold War Hotline 72
judgecorp writes "In a move reminiscent of the 1960s Cold War days, Presidents Obama and Putin have set up a hotline between their respective cyber-security authorities, to defuse any possible crises and prevent them from escalating into an online equivalent of the Cuban Missile Crisis. 'We recognise that threats to or in the use of ICTs include political-military and criminal threats, as well as threats of a terrorist nature, and are some of the most serious national and international security challenges we face in the 21st Century,' a joint statement from the presidents read."
In Soviet Russia (Score:1)
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Russia/USA is NOT the problem (Score:2)
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America soon to be the only country in all history to go to nuclear war over IP theft.
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America soon to be the only country in all history to go to nuclear war over IP theft.
US: We didn't launch the nukes at you Russia! Chinese hackers did it while we were distracted by a huge PRISM!
Re:Russia/USA is NOT the problem (Score:5, Insightful)
China is the new 'enemy' that the US has been waiting for since the end of the Cold War. No doubt this escalating rivalry will drive the development and purchase of a new generation of military equipment, and justify the US government exerting unilateral control over ever more aspects of online activity and identity. Rest easy: we'll all continue to enjoy unending war in our lifetimes.
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I see this attitude ALL THE TIME and it never fails to baffle me. Because someone thinks that China is the new boogeyman, that means that China must not be hacking at all. It's all about the all-powerful US government boogeyman instead!
Note you're the only person that said that "China must not be hacking at all": neither me nor GP said this. congratulations on your hasty strawman creation.
(newsflash, Obama is the good guy, the media is on his side these days)
If you continue to think in binary "good guy, bad guy" terms, we'll never get past this caveman "us vs them". The first things you should check at the door is any notion of American exceptionalism, and your blind faith in "the media".
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why are there Senators out there trying to have him executed for high treason?
Just playing Devil's Advocate, but why does that mean that what Snowden said was true? Is it only treason when someone tells the truth, or can it be treason if the person is lying, but their lies are intended to cause mass devastation?
well... if his lies were levying war on the united states(I don't think he gave them Aid and Comfort which means lodging them).
actually it's only treason nowadays if you can't pin any other crime on it. that's the modern treason. mainly because they changed what treason meant and how it is to be tried, funny thing is that it's one of the only specific crimes in USA that had such definitions.. even if levying war can mean many things. you would need an open court according to the original definition as well.
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You've answered your own question: it seems to.
Is it Vetted? (Score:5, Interesting)
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The Seal Bug [spybusters.com] was just one bug. Later, the Soviets kindly built us an embassy with bugs built into the very concrete of the walls [airforcemag.com].
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Do you really think the USA side would need specific hardware installed from the Russian side to setup a hotline (or vice versa).....Or do you think they would use their own hardware and it is just the actual line that is common?
Re:Is it Vetted? (Score:4, Informative)
Do you really think the USA side would need specific hardware installed from the Russian side to setup a hotline (or vice versa).....Or do you think they would use their own hardware and it is just the actual line that is common?
In fact, yes, they do, because the US doesn't trust that the Russian encryption isn't crackable, and vice versa. So as of 2010, there's been a joint encryption agreement in place for the White House/Kremlin hotline, and the same technology is being deployed in this case as well. Specifically the GRU and SVR in Russia, and their opposite numbers in the US. The agreed upon solution was to use cryptosystems from both countries on the communications.
"More recently, the United States and Russia agreed on new joint encryption arrangements for the forty-year-old hotline between the Kremlin and the White House. Moreover, American and Russian banks already cooperate in secure digital communications for international transfers of staggeringly large sums of money."
See this 2010 report for details, specifically, the executive summary beginning on page 7:
http://www.ewi.info/system/files/USRussiaCyber_WEB.pdf [ewi.info]
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Bugs are so old tech now. For 20 years they've been bouncing lasers off windows and decoding the audio vibrations.
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If memory serves, a group of small Russian children presented one of our embassies a gift of a beautiful wooden state seal to hang on the wall. Unbeknown to anyone in the embassy at the time, it contained a small passive bug built within and that allowed the Russians to listen in to priviledged embassy conversations. The seal is now hanging up a the NSA museum in Columbia, Maryland. So the question is, who made the phones for this hotline?
China of course...
This is.... (Score:2)
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joshua (Score:2)
joshua
Cyber Cold War Hotline (Score:2)
How convenient, hot and cold running war...
Of course it's a friendly call (Score:2)
Hello? ... Ah ... I can't hear too well. Do you suppose you could turn the music down just a little? ... Oh-ho, that's much better. ... yeah ... huh ... yes ... Fine, I can hear you now, Vladimir. ... Clear and plain and coming through fine....I'm coming through fine, too, eh? ... Good, then ... well, then, as you say, we're both coming through fine. ... Good. ... Well, it's good that you're fine and ... and I'm fine. ... I agree with you, it's great to be fine. ... a-ha-ha-ha-ha ... Now then, Vladimir, you
Cyberway arms race (Score:5, Interesting)
Cyber war games (Score:2, Insightful)
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So you're dumb enough to ignore something like this [nytimes.com] and put all of the blame on the US. Let me guess, you're not from the US, yet you'll use the Internet which WE invented (and don't get me started on Berners-Lee; he simply wrote an implementation of the ideas and research of Bush, Engelbart, and Nelson).
Yes, it's always the Yankees fault. Quit using the net if you don't like it and move back to your cave.
Nice timing. (Score:5, Interesting)
It certainly is no accident that today is the 50th anniversary of the agreement to set up the original Hot Line.
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Yeah, coming on the heels of Obama's JFK-redux speech in Berlin, one of the defining Cold War moments. There's a conscious effort on to portray Obama as a Cold War leader. Certainly an abrupt departure from earlier characterizations like the US-Russian "reset" (an annoying metaphor—as if the world were a video game that you could reset at will whenever you didn't like your position).
So the question is, who is the new Cold Opponent? Who is the Evil Empire? And does all this justify PRISM or somethi
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There's a conscious effort on to portray Obama as a Cold War leader.
Obama has always portrayed himself as MLK's "dream" and JFK's ghost all rolled into one. Not dissimilar to how Jesus portrayed himself as the "lamb" that was prophesied in the old testament. He certainly has the eloquence of the civil rights leaders but it will be a couple of generations before anyone can tell if he has had as much significance.
The recent UN compromise between Putin & Obama to work towards a caretaker government in Syria looks promising from a humanitarian and civil rights POV, but i
Keep your friends close... (Score:2)
...and your enemies closer.
using twitter hotline? (Score:5, Funny)
@putin, WTF is up with goddamn @assad?
@obama, you have no proof #WMD.
@putin, no proof, WTF were those #sarin loaded missles?
@obama, perhaps #israel fired them and put blame on #syria.
@putin, you are a pussy.
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In the dark ages, Putin (ex: KGB 'commando') would have sailed to the US on a Viking boat, personally kicked the crap out of Bush/Obama, and told Americans they would all have to get used to being paid in vodka.
Oh.. a funny story relating to that. Vikings were used in pacification of Russia into Russia.
What the hell? (Score:2)
FTFA:
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Corporations are states too!
Shouldn't it be between the US and China? (Score:3)
Because it's not like the US and Russia are the ones consistently at each others' throats over alleged cyber attacks.
Why don't they... (Score:2)
just set up a facebook group?
Not what it'll actually be used for (Score:2)
I can see it mainly being used to request information on citizens than aren't allowed to be spied on by their own government. I'm sure Downing Street will be getting involved in this too.
Talk of hotlines reminds me of Yes, Prime Minister (Score:2)
Every time I read about setting up hotlines between governments on various things, I think of this classic episode from Yes, Prime Minister, "The Grand Design."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=diuQiXt5qE4#t=45s [youtube.com]
Prime Minister: So in an emergency I can get straight through to the Soviet president?
General: Theoretically, yes.
PM: Theoretically?
General: It's what we tell journalists. Ha Ha Ha. In fact we did once get through to the Kremlin, but only to a switchboard operator.
PM: C
I've seen the actual "hotline" (Score:2)
On a tour of the Joint Intelligence facilities in the Pentagon many (15) years ago, we got to walk past the room with the actual hotline (it's not in the White House, or even some buried secret Pentagon sub-basement.) It's a closet with a door with a bored-looking officer in there, along with a teletype. It has a phone, but it was connected to the DoD phone system, not Russia.