U.S. National Security Agency works with Apple, Microsoft, others on OS security

19 years ago

“When Microsoft introduces its long-awaited Windows Vista operating system this month, it will have an unlikely partner to thank for making its flagship product safe and secure for millions of computer users across the world: the National Security Agency,” Alec Klein and Ellen Nakashima report for The Washington Post.

Klein and Nakashima report, “For the first time, the giant software maker is acknowledging the help of the secretive agency, better known for eavesdropping on foreign officials and, more recently, U.S. citizens as part of the Bush administration’s effort to combat terrorism. The agency said it has helped in the development of the security of Microsoft’s new operating system — the brains of a computer — to protect it from worms, Trojan horses and other insidious computer attackers.”

“Other software makers have turned to government agencies for security advice, including Apple, which makes the Mac OS X operating system. ‘We work with a number of U.S. government agencies on Mac OS X security and collaborated with the NSA on the Mac OS X security configuration guide,’ said Apple spokesman Anuj Nayar in an e-mail,” Klein and Nakashima report.

“Novell, which sells a Linux-based operating system, also works with government agencies on software security issues, spokesman Bruce Lowry said in an e-mail,” ” Klein and Nakashima report.

Klein and Nakashima report, “The NSA’s primary mission is signals intelligence — monitoring the communications of foreign powers, terrorists and others. But its secondary objection is ‘information assurance,’ under which the security of Microsoft’s operating system falls.”

Full article here.