US Security Services May 'Have Moles Within Microsoft,' Says Researcher

Barence writes "U.S. government officials could be working under cover at Microsoft to help the country's cyber-espionage programme, according to one leading security expert. According to Mikko Hypponen, chief research officer at security firm F-Secure, the claim is a logical conclusion to a series of recent discoveries and disclosures linking the U.S. government to 2010's Stuxnet attack on Iran and ties between Stuxnet and the recent Flame attack. 'It's plausible that if there is an operation under way and being run by a U.S. intelligence agency it would make perfect sense for them to plant moles inside Microsoft to assist in pulling it off, just as they would in any other undercover operation,' he said. 'It's not certain, but it would be common sense to expect they would do that.'"

Go full Tin-foil Hat!

[treerex]

Let's not beat around the bush! I say Microsoft has known USG agents working on the systems intentionally putting holes in the OS that can then be leveraged for zero-day attacks against other governments. Balmer is in cahoots I say! CAHOOTS!

Re:Ockham's razor

[Anonymous Coward]

"Moles in MS" would be a big no-no, no?

Actually, it sounds like it'd be a runaway hit reality show.

"For the past year, we sent a Google developer deep undercover at Microsoft armed with an Android-powered hidden camera and an agenda to subtly promote open technologies. Now, we're going to show you the results. Sometimes hilarious, sometimes heartbreaking, sometimes horrifying; tune in starting this August on Slashdot TV for 'Moles in Microsoft' to see what happens when development ideologies collide in the real world."

Re:Ockham's razor

[ackthpt]

We can get even simpler and easier, MS already gives the military access to their source code so that it can be reviewed. This is a requirement for all the software used on the most secure systems.

It has always been viewed as a joke around here, because unless they are going to fix the bugs themselves, having the source isn't going to make windoze take extra care about your data.

So the simplest and most obvious answer is, they didn't need to sneak in, and they didn't need to make threats either.

That explains some of the mental breakdown of returning veterans...