This is interesting...

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Imported from previous forum

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I thought this was interesting, considering our recent discussion on the challenge of assuring security mechanisms that are implemented in financial systems:

The game changes when a nation-state adversary steps into the ring, that’s for sure…

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[ original email was from John Harris - john.harris@bondmart.com ]
Interesting, indeed. Even when news reports are so much horse manure, as is the case here, they can impart valuable lessons. Let’s presume for the moment that reporter Michael Riley speaks the truth as he knows it and dissect this to see what can be learned…or not:

  1. We have multiple individuals leaking classified information to Bloomberg. What are their motives for doing so? Have these leaks engendered an investigation of their own?

  2. We have the implication that NSA is better able to investigate sophisticated cyber attacks than the FBI. If so, why the deficiency in the FBI’s ranks? If not, who benefits from the false implication?

  3. We have twice the conflation of private and public interests, as if they are one and the same: the notion that the interests of Nasdaq are the interests of the people at large. Nasdaq is a private business, not a government agency. Its infrastructure belongs to its shareholders, not “the nation” or taxpayers. Neither the NSA nor “foreign intelligence agencies” are shareholders, to my knowledge. Why are taxpayers in any country footing the bill for the investigation of a security breach of a business? How does NSA know that one or more of these foreign intelligence agencies had no role in the breach? Has does Nasdaq know that NSA is innocent, for that matter?

  4. We have the suggestion that NSA can break any encryption scheme. Gee, that’s news to me. If it’s true, then we’re all screwed, because nothing is secure.

  5. We have the suggestion that Nasdaq lied by omission about the extent of the breach. If so, why?

  6. We have the internal contradiction and lie concerning Nasdaq’s knowledge of which systems were breached. On the one hand, it doesn’t know. On the other, it knows of it least one (“Directors Desk”). Which is it? Simple question: to what other systems at Nasdaq is Directors Desk linked?

  7. Strangest of all, we have the extensive riff about what this means to Nasdaq’s ability to buy NYSE. Tabb’s speculations on the subject caused the needle on my horse-manure detector to jump to “Major Stink” on its dial. Gee, I don’t know, was this story planted indirectly by NYSE? Is one of the foreign intelligence agencies at the table German? Does any sane being actually think that this breach disqualifies Nasdaq from buying NYSE? Give me a break…

Allow me a selfish indulgence. Some of us are old enough to remember 9/11/2001. I knew a couple of really nice folks who died that day at WTC. I remember there were some really strange trades put on in advance of those attacks - you know, options on airline stocks and the like - that have never been explained by the U.S. government.

If NSA is so damn brilliant, I am sure that a lot of Americans are a helluva lot more interested in goings-on in the financial markets around that day than they are in the breach of an exchange that in the grand scheme of things just doesn’t matter, and would appreciate it just a little bit if NSA would have its geniuses solve the 9/11 crime(s) before they worry about a private business with wealthy shareholders that is perfectly capable of hiring its own experts.

Now, before I am accused of launching a political diatribe in this forum, know this: this news story has specific bearing on the design and implementation of the FIX Protocol by market participants. FPL should convene a working group to study this very case and promulgate best practices to prevent a recurrence of it. And we should all know to NEVER let the NSA into our businesses. Trap doors are bad for business.

I thought this was interesting, considering our recent discussion on the challenge of assuring security mechanisms that are implemented in financial systems:

U.S. Spy Agency Is Said to Investigate Nasdaq Hacker Attack - Bloomberg

The game changes when a nation-state adversary steps into the ring, that’s for sure…

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Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

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[ original email was from John Harris - john.harris@bondmart.com ]
> Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

…the sheep graze in their pastures, chickens cluck in their pens, and wolves drool.