1. The vulnerability was probably exploited before the CIA guy joined Cisco. The Vault 7 cache contains some seriously legacy docs.
2. Why would the ex-CIA guy hurt his current employer to help his former? Don't people do it the other way around?
3. Good luck finding a single Fortune 500 company that doesn't employ someone that used to be in the Intelligence Community.
4. Telnet options are pretty arcane. It seems like an easy bug to write. The modus operandi of U.S. backdoor attempts in the past matches a different model. U.S. backdoor attempts fit two models: backdoor dependent on secret key (Dual_EC RNG), and backdoor dependent on physical sabotage (interdiction). This is stuff available in the Snowden docs and related news reports.
It's a common HN meme that Cisco and Microsoft help the U.S. government spy, but there isn't credible evidence supporting it. They actively resist government espionage attempts.
Yahoo, RSA, et. al. deserve the negative attention, not companies that fight the good fight.
2. Why would the ex-CIA guy hurt his current employer to help his former? Don't people do it the other way around?
3. Good luck finding a single Fortune 500 company that doesn't employ someone that used to be in the Intelligence Community.
4. Telnet options are pretty arcane. It seems like an easy bug to write. The modus operandi of U.S. backdoor attempts in the past matches a different model. U.S. backdoor attempts fit two models: backdoor dependent on secret key (Dual_EC RNG), and backdoor dependent on physical sabotage (interdiction). This is stuff available in the Snowden docs and related news reports.
It's a common HN meme that Cisco and Microsoft help the U.S. government spy, but there isn't credible evidence supporting it. They actively resist government espionage attempts.
Yahoo, RSA, et. al. deserve the negative attention, not companies that fight the good fight.