[ NNSquad ] Major carriers ally with NSA to monitor Internet traffic threat signatures

[Lauren Weinstein <lauren@vortex.com>]

Major carriers ally with NSA to monitor Internet traffic threat signatures
http://bit.ly/m16pdw  (This message on Google Buzz)

 - - -

http://j.mp/kwfKBo  (Washington Post)

    "Officials say the pilot program does not involve direct monitoring of
     the contractors' networks by the government. The program uses
     NSA-developed "signatures," or fingerprints of malicious code, and
     sequences of suspicious network behavior to filter the Internet
     traffic flowing to major defense contractors. That allows the Internet
     providers to disable the threats before an attack can penetrate a
     contractor's servers. The trial is testing two particular sets of
     signatures and behavior patterns that the NSA has detected as threats."

 - - -

As described, I find nothing alarming about this program.  My comments
regarding other NSA technical partnerships -- in "Google (and Lauren)
Meet NSA" ( http://bit.ly/bcz6ei [Lauren's Blog] ) -- may be of
some relevance toward evaluating such situations.

--Lauren--
Lauren Weinstein (lauren@vortex.com): http://www.vortex.com/lauren
Co-Founder: People For Internet Responsibility: http://www.pfir.org
Founder:
 - Network Neutrality Squad: http://www.nnsquad.org
 - Global Coalition for Transparent Internet Performance: http://www.gctip.org
 - PRIVACY Forum: http://www.vortex.com
Member: ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy
Blog: http://lauren.vortex.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/laurenweinstein 
Google Buzz: http://j.mp/laurenbuzz 
Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800 / Skype: vortex.com