From a Cringely article:
The DCS-1000 or Carnivore system is apparently rife with security defects, starting with the fact that it is a Windows 2000 box exposed to the Internet, typically not behind the firewall, at the ISP and remote-controlled from the FBI office using PCAnywhere. The data it captures are downloaded insecurely in the PCAnywhere session. In fact, the FBI admitted that some significant e-mail intercepts concerning Osama Bin Laden were "contaminated" and were not legally usable (the technician reportedly was ordered to destroy all the intercepts) due to technical problems with the box.
...The fact that Microsoft was chosen just this week by the Department of Homeland Security to provide $90-million in software for the agency's 140,000 desktops and servers does not make me feel any safer.
Posted by Peter at July 21, 2003 10:58 AM