Difference between revisions 123927136 and 123927138 on dewiki

{{cleanup|date=December 2010}}

{{DISPLAYTITLE:_NSAKEY}}
'''_NSAKEY''' was a [[variable]] name discovered in [[Windows NT 4]] [[Windows_NT_4.0#Service_Packs|Service Pack]] 5 (which had been released unstripped of its [[Debug symbol|symbolic debugging]] data) in August 1999 by Andrew D. Fernandes of Cryptonym Corporation. That variable contained a 1024-bit [[public key]].

== Overview ==
(contracted; show full)hird possibility is that the _NSAKEY enables the NSA or other agencies to sign their own cryptographic modules without being required to disclose those modules to Microsoft, which would allow them to create modules in-house that implement classified algorithms. Of course this capability would also enable an agency to sign modules that could be used to undermine the security of any Windows installation.{{Citation needed|date=August 2007}}

Microsoft denied that the NSA has access to the _NSAKEY secret key. 
  <ref>{{cite web
|url=http://articles.cnn.com/1999-09-03/tech/9909_03_windows.nsa.02_1_national-security-agency-cryptography-windows-nt4?_s=PM:TECH
|title=NSA key to Windows an open question
|date=3 September 1999
|accessdate=2011-11-20
}}</ref>

The key is still present in subsequent versions of Windows, though it has been renamed "_KEY2."{{Citation needed|date=September 2011}}

It was possible to remove the second _NSAKEY using the following (note this was for Windows software in 1999).

(contracted; show full)[[Category:Microsoft criticisms and controversies]]
[[Category:History of cryptography]]
[[Category:Conspiracy theories]]
[[Category:National Security Agency]]
[[Category:Microsoft Windows security technology]]

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