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After the FBI and Britain's top spy agency criticized Silicon Valley for encrypting and protecting user data, Michael Rogers, director of the NSA, came to Palo Alto to make peace. "I am not one who jumps up and down and says either side is fundamentally wrong," Rogers told a crowd of students and professors at Stanford University on Monday. "I understand what drives each side to their viewpoint on this." He said that he understood FBI Director James Comey's desire for "some mechanism on the technical side" where, "using a legal framework," encrypted data could be accessed by the government.

He also claimed that the NSA did not know about or exploit the Heartbleed bug before news of it broke in April. When it comes to cybersecurity threats, Rogers said it was "unrealistic to expect the private sector to withstand the actions of nation-states," but equally unrealistic to "expect the government to deal with this all by itself." Rogers also tried to woo away computer science students from lucrative Silicon Valley jobs. "We are going to give you the opportunity to do some neat things that you can't legally do anywhere else," he said.

First published November 4 2014, 10:55 AM

Originally posted here:
NSA Head Makes Nice with Silicon Valley Over Privacy

General Keith Alexander, former director of the National Security Agency, was found to have invested in a technology company tied to AT&T and iPhone sales.

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) During his time as director of the National Security Agency, General Keith Alexander made investments in a technology company closely tied to AT&T.

According to a story by the Daily Beast, Alexander bought and sold tens of thousands of dollars of stock in a New Jersey-based company called Synchronoss Technologies Inc., which helps synchronize personal information across multiple devices.

The company also provided AT&T T, -0.14% with technology that helped it lock iPhones onto their network when they were the sole distributor, which the report said would have helped Alexander profit.

While Alexander was running the NSA, the agency was pouring AT&T subscribers phone records into a database and had also installed surveillance equipment in some AT&T offices.

Alexanders financial forms show he bought shares in Synchronoss worth between $1,001 and $15,000 after Synchronoss shares plummeted by 43% after it announced materially lower growth expectations in May 2008. Alexanders financial forms show he made less than $201 in 2008, essentially breaking even on his investing portfolio. This means he potentially lost money on the Synchronoss trades.

The news comes after it was revealed Alexander traded shares in commodities firms, including the Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan and the Aluminum Company of China, during his time as NSA chief. However, an ethics officer at the agency said no conflicts of interests appear to exist.

Representatives for Alexanders consulting firm, Ironnet Cybersecurity Inc., could not be reached for comment but in October, the NSA released a statement on ethics saying that it aids employees in identifying conflicts of interest and agency ethics counselors perform an independent review and when conflicts are found, the agency finds a suitable remedy.

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Former NSA chief invested in company tied to AT&T

Brazil Builds Internet Cable to Portugal to Avoid NSA Surveillance!
http://www.undergroundworldnews.com Brazil is building a cable across the Atlantic to escape the reach of the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA). The move is one of many ways the Brazilian...

By: DAHBOO77

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Brazil Builds Internet Cable to Portugal to Avoid NSA Surveillance! - Video

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By: Trelotrick IceNine

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zdzislaw nsa facebook anon (e-8x) | low voices - Video

U.S. intelligence depends on Silicon Valley innovation for technologies that strengthen the Internet and staff to provide national cybersecurity, National Security Agency director Mike Rogers told Stanford University professors and students Monday.

While the federal government is never going to match Silicon Valley salaries, "we are going to give you the opportunity to do some neat stuff, things you probably aren't going to be able to do anywhere else," Rogers said.

Rogers, who also heads up U.S. Cyber Command, said he visits the region at least every six months to tap into local talent and stay attuned to the latest innovations.

During a question and answer session, Jennifer Granick, director of civil liberties at the Stanford Center for Internet and Society, asked Rogers how he can explain disclosures by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden that the agency secretly broke into communications on Yahoo and Google overseas.

Rogers said his agency does not violate U.S. privacy laws here or abroad working with partner intelligence agencies.

"I'm comfortable with what we do, with our partners," he said.

Mark Jaycox, an Electronic Frontier Foundation legislative analyst who watched the speech versus a webstream, said Rogers, who was sworn in in April, has not addressed most privacy concerns raised in recent years.

"Unfortunately, Admiral Rogers hasn't yet engaged on many of the NSA's more egregious activities like disrupting national standards for encryption or the NSA's hacking of American companies' internal databases."

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NSA Director: US Needs Silicon Valley's Expertise