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              | Date: 2001-08-12 
 
 Keystroke-Logging und das FBI-.-. --.- -.-. --.- -.-. --.- -.-. --.- -.-. --.- -.-. --.-
 
 Rund um das Thema FBI und Key-Logging ist zwischen Declan
 McCullaghed [Wired]  und Thomas Greene [The Register]
 ausgebrochen. Der neue FBI-Direktor Robert Mueller hat vor einem
 Senatsauschuss angegeben, von der erwähnten Technik zur
 Überwachung von Keyboard-Eingaben keine Ahnung zu haben.
 Greene wiederum hat ein Dokument des CERT zum Thema Key-
 logging von 1992 ausgegraben und siehe  - Robert Mueller kam
 darin vor.
 Related
 http://www.quintessenz.at/archiv/msg01570.html
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 by Declan McCullagh <declan@well.com>
 
 I'm a big fan of Thomas' work, but I don't think his article below
 makes the case that our new FBI director lied to Congress.
 
 The 1992 CERT advisory -- Robert Mueller is listed in the
 acknowledgements -- talks about keystroke logging of the form
 done by system and network administrators.
 (http://www.cert.org/advisories/CA-1992-19.html) The obvious
 methods at the time to do so were tools like tcpdump and even
 printers hooked up in the way Cliff Stoll documents in the Cuckoo's
 Egg. There's a big difference between monitoring what users are
 doing on a multi-user, networked Unix system accessed entirely
 remotely and recording what one person is typing locally on a
 Windows PC.
 
 Last week I posted the transcript of Mueller's comments before the
 Senate Judiciary committee. In response to a question about the
 Scarfo monitoring technology, which the FBi developed internally in
 the last few years, he replied:
 
 http://www.politechbot.com/p-02341.html >MR. MUELLER: I'm not
 familiar with that new technology, have not had >occasion to use it
 in our district. I read the same article that the >senator read, with
 interest, because it was the first I'd ever heard if >it. Until I know
 more about it, I really don't think I can commit one way >or the
 other.
 
 Those comments seem to be truthful. I don't think the Scarfo
 technology -- based on what we know of it -- is anything near what
 the CERT advisory is talking about.
 
 -Declan
 
 *********
 
 From: "Thomas C. Greene" <tcgreene@bellatlantic.net> Subject:
 FBI chief Mueller lied to Senate about key-logging Date: Wed, 8
 Aug 2001 15:06:07 -0700
 
 
 http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/20894.html
 
 FBI chief Mueller lied to Senate about key-logging By Thomas C
 Greene in Washington mailto:thomas.greene@theregister.co.uk
 
 New FBI chief Robert Mueller's testimony before the US Senate
 during his confirmation hearing last week, to the effect that he had
 no understanding of key-logging technology, sounded very wrong to
 us.
 
 We were hoping that he was just exhibiting naiveté when, under
 questioning from US Senator Maria Cantwell (Democrat,
 Washington State) about the FBI's prosecution of mobster
 Nicodemo Scarfo, Jr. by means of a black-bag job involving a key
 logger, Mueller claimed that he's "not familiar with that new
 technology, and [had] not had occasion to use it in [his] district."
 
 We figured that little gem had to be either a bald-faced lie, or
 evidence of his technical incompetence and consequent unfitness
 to lead the FBI in the 21st Century.
 
 Naturally, we all prefer honest incompetence to active deceit, and
 we were hoping that the second explanation would prove right; but
 we're sorry to report that we've got evidence that actually Mueller
 knows a great deal about key-logging technology.
 
 If we consult the following advisory
 http://www.cert.org/advisories/CA-1992-19.html from the Computer
 Emergency Response Team (CERT) Coordination Center at
 Carnegie Mellon University, we find that Mueller contributed to a
 report on the legalities of installing key-logging technology on a
 network.
 
 The bulletin advises systems administrators that because key
 logging could be controversial (as the courts had yet to rule on its
 legality), it would be best to put a prominent banner warning users
 and intruders alike that their comings and goings will be monitored.
 
 The bulletin is dated December 1992, revised September 1997.
 Clearly, Mueller has been well acquainted with the technology he
 told Congress he knows nothing about.
 
 Sadly, it appears he lied to Congress. And even if he was splitting
 hairs, i.e., speaking of a very specific implementation of key-
 logging technology which he himself hasn't yet played with, he's
 still deceitful.
 
 He might have been a man about it, and declined to answer on
 grounds that the technology in question is currently being tested in
 the courts -- that is, in the Scarfo case. At least he would have
 shown some spine. But by fobbing off the question with a lie, or
 with a split-hair statement calculated to mislead the Senate, he's
 demonstrated that he's afraid of tough questions, and eager to take
 the coward's path out.
 
 It's a very sad symbol of his brand-new tenure, and a most horrible
 way to start it.
 
 
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 published on: 2001-08-12
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