Has anyone ever read or seen anything that would reveal what OS the NSA runs?
im super curious.
Someone said maybe openbsd. But ive also heard things about openbsd having backdoors. Which would make sense because it only has on developer. And its run on routers, etc. So it would make an easy target for backdooring.
If I've done nothing wrong then why are you spying on me? Creepy stalking fuckers.
temple os. it's the only secure OS because it lacks support for networking.
Windows?
There's no spying if the one spying on you is yourself, right?
They use a variety of different Operating systems depending on the task at hand.
Fug they're good.
Like what? We know they developed SELinux or the own use, at least originally.
Blown my mind
The entirety of the federal government runs on Windows.
I'm sure they use whatever they need to when it comes time to get the job done.
Also, the computer they use to check CNN is going to be a different computer than the one used for classified projects.
I thought NSA uses Redhat linux?
They use everything.
They definitely don't use OpenBSD because it lacks the basics of their requirements. They require more fine grained access control.
That being said, they sponsor and indirectly fund lots of work that happens around Linux and FreeBSD.
>1
cd /usr/src/linux
make menuconfig
uncheck all SE Linux option and the drivers for intel ME, PCH
NSA/Windows, a special windows distribution, open-sourced only for the NSA.
Reminder: the nsa has their own fab lab, and has in the past used custom hardware down to the cables.
They use everything, because they hope to own everything. There are paid staffers who's only job is to track oss. They have a 0day arsenal which only gets bigger by the day.
It doesn't matter what they run, what matters is how they run it.
RHEL
gentoo
The nsa use beOS user
> open-sourced only for the NSA
Not really. Every gov agency (non-US too) wants to audit its source and it happens under strict NDA.
I'm sure they do.
Government agencies like RedHat due to it's availability of support.
Believe it or not, government IT doesn't exactly pay great, so you generally get 3 types of people:
>smart guy who likes the slow work pace/steady paycheck/days off (probably 20%) (me imo)
>oxygen thief who hasn't gotten fired since it's impossible to fire people (another 20%)
>barely competent guy who knows he wouldn't last in a real company (the remaining 60%)
This means that the government needs to rely on the support provided by contracts, since the top 20% are busy just keeping the place running.
Now, the NSA is probably a bit more weighted towards the smart side, but I would hazard a guess and say that they employ a ton of support type IT guys to insulate their rockstars from all the bullshit that goes on.
Back on topic, they probably use a variety of OSes to serve different roles. Just like how most companies probably have a mix of Linux and Windows servers.
NSA develops and shares open source tools
github.com
proprietary subhumans BTFO into another dimension
Government job sounds great tbqh
can confirm
As someone who has done system administration for the US DoD and DoL I'll shed some light on this. On routers they use OpenWrt in the general offices. On all of the backend stuff like servers they usually (99% of the time) run RHEL with additional system hardening and security measures. Laptops and desktops used to run Windows XP or 7 for a long time but they're now being slowly migrated to Fedora. Last I checked they were using the Cinnamon desktop for regular employees because it looks and feels like Windows but if you're more tech savvy you can install any other desktop or programs you want as long as it's from the official repos. Whatever makes you more productive is generally accepted in that regard. For the super secret stuff (which I rarely even heard about) they use the RTOS from Green Hills Software which is nearly unhackable. I've wanted to play with it but they don't sell it to the general public and there aren't any copies of it floating around anywhere. It's the type of thing that they run on the embedded systems in fighter planes, tanks, and in those spooky ultra-rugged briefcase laptops or toughbooks that get used in the field in emergencies and stuff.
I personally use Fedora on all of my machines because I know how seriously the project takes security and timely updates.
Not the more recent versions. The most recent version of Winshit that they've approved to handle classified information is 8.1 and top secret stuff never touches Wangblows at all. The computers they do have Windows 7 or 8 on are used by the spreadsheet monkeys on the ground floor.
They've updated to Haiku OS 64-bit. The NSA also secretly uses Temple OS and the CIA niggers will never know.
>barely competent guy who knows he wouldn't last in a real company
Me when I started.
>smart guy who likes the slow work pace/steady paycheck/days off
Me now.
Windows 98. They know whats up.
>oxygen thief who hasn't gotten fired since it's impossible to fire people (another 20%)
>tfw there are people who can get paid for shitposting
>tfw it will never be me
I enjoy it.
I don't make a ton of money, but I can keep a healthy work-life balance, which is important to me.
It's also opened my eyes a bit about the country's labor law. It really needs an overhaul. Companies should be required to give 24 days of PTO a year. If you seriously can't go without an employee for 2 days a month, your business management sucks.
I work at a USAF NOC and I can tell you that's not how things happen on the .mil side of the fence.
For example, I'm 99% sure the yellow sticker computers run Windows 7. I don't work on those, though. We run W10 on most every unclass system, and most of our servers are 2012 machines, with some RHEL sprinkled in.
I take it you're civ?
Too bad those green badges sitting next to you make 4x as much for the same shit
>I take it you're civ?
Yep.
Not sure what you're trying to say.
I wear a green uniform and a green badge.
A SSgt takes home just about as much as many of our contractors.
Do you have a lot of people in the nat guard/reserves?
Sometimes this military BS gets old, but that pension at 20 years...
THe NSA runs red hat linux (which is basically the same as CentOS). All snowden leaks mentions red hat linux and there is even a leaked NSA document with internal rules to secure red hat centoshelp.org
>Do you have a lot of people in the nat guard/reserves?
You mean the people that I work with? No, not that I know of. I know that one guy is a veteran because of the pictures on his desk and the coffee mug he always uses but I haven't exactly asked around.
except oif course, microsoft can see everything that windows users can see and I bet the NSA don't want no companies snooping in their shit.
Other parts of the government? Sure, they don't mind snopping by the pajeets of microsoft. But the NSA? No way
show me a router that runs OpenBSD, I would really want one, but they don't really exist.
Routers run linux. Mostly. Some run proprietary OSes.
Also, OpenBSD definitely has more than one developer. They are doing everything they can to make it more secure, even if it means they have to break userspace programs.
Mostly RHEL, but there's a little Debian as well.
You mentioned the RTOS INTEGRITY-178B. That's used for a couple of things in the DoD, but not really by the NSA much.
selinux was developed by nsa, nsa has hardening guides for rhel
Your consumer grade ddwrt garbage ain't a router its a fucking toy. go buy an apu2 or a zotec box with 2 GBE ports, done. Ubiquity edge can also run openbsd
US security agencies don't use off the shelf editions of anything. They use a custom build of Windows 10 with the malware cut out.
At one of my companies customers sites all contractors are green badges while all employees are blue
VR is specialized enough that contractors are making 200+ though, while GS8s are making 60k even with their specialization pay
Fedora and probably RHEL. I also remember seeing Windows in some pictures that they've released of their headquarters.
Dumbest shit I have heard. Windows is not functional without the malware. The malware and spyware is system critical. It's the only way to get security updates for example.
And the NSA are not a bunch of tech illiterate gamers. They are able to use a proper OS instead
Oh, I was referring to the SCIF badges.
Anyways, our contractor network admins/sys admins range from $50k to $75k, depending on seniority. Kinda sucks for them.
Enlisted military pay is highly dependent on location and has a ton of special tax things you have to work around to compare it to a normal salary.
It basically works down to pic related, which is the take-home for colorado springs and the associated gross you'd have to make to take home that much.
R E D H A T
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They use a mix of Windows and RHEL. Both are hardened with STIG policies developed in cooperation with the developers of Windows and Red Hat.
You can find them here: iase.disa.mil