Is there a chance smartcards have a backdoor? (was Re: Any future for the Crypto Stick?)

[Paul R. Ramer]

Peter Lebbing <peter at digitalbrains.com> wrote:
>On 05/12/13 13:20, Paul R. Ramer wrote:
>> On that note, why assume that the manufacturer would not do the
>opposite:
>> feign helping the spy agency by giving them a compromised ROM and
>then
>> substituting a secure one on the real product. In either case, we are
>> assuming the company would try to supply different bodies with
>different
>> ROMs.
>
>We're debating the risk that a card is backdoored. If there is such a
>risk, that
>risk still exists if we allow for the possibility that manufacturers
>try to do
>what you say. They're not mutually exclusive; how come you infer that I
>assume
>that the manufacturer would not do the opposite?

It was not my intent to make it seem that I had made any insinuations on your part.  It was more that I wanted to express an alternate possibility rather than the nefarious one that was being discussed. 

It seemed that the only scenario involving pressure or coercion on the part of the U.S. being discussed was one of compliance by the company rather than a range of possibilities.  Events in life do not always happen neatly and predictably.  If we are going to discuss outcomes, we need to talk about more than one.

Cheers,

--Paul


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