back to article UC Berkeley profs blast secret IT monitoring kit on campus

Academics at the University of California Berkeley have protested after it emerged that management had put a secret data slurping device into the campus that was mapping and storing all network traffic. "The intrusive device is capable of capturing and analyzing all network traffic to and from the Berkeley campus and has …

  1. elDog

    Slurping traffic is supposed to do real-time protection?

    And this is UCB?

    The nasties that creep into our systems no longer reveal themselves by some traffic monitoring. They are usually a combination of user stupidity and user stupidity.

    Ms. Napolitano has shown herself as an adept water carrier for various corporate interests that want to monetize fear-mongering.

    Unless I misunderstand, this is not real-time or pro-active - it is just capture-and-store.

    1. Someone Else Silver badge
      Stop

      Re: Slurping traffic is supposed to do real-time protection?

      In response, the university sent El Reg a letter from David Kay, chair of the University Committee on Academic Computing and Communications, explaining that the monitoring system had been set up to protect the university's research facilities from hackers.

      Oh, Bullshit! Janet, you (and your minions) are talking to university professors, some of whom are IT and or CS profs and know what they're (and you're) talking about; these are not some dumbshit Congresscritter who cannot parse sentences containing words with more than 3 syllables. So cut the crap, admit you're busted, and Stop. Spying. On. People.

    2. NoneSuch Silver badge
      Devil

      It's easier...

      ...to ask for forgiveness after you get caught rather than getting permission beforehand.

    3. The Man Who Fell To Earth Silver badge
      Boffin

      Janet Napolitano

      Janet Napolitano is the first President of the University of California to not be an academic. All past Presidents of the UC have been professors. Napolitano is just a political lap dog. What you are seeing is the destruction of one of the worlds best academic institutions.

  2. Oengus
    Thumb Down

    Once a snoop...

    The former head of Homeland Security implements snooping in her new job... Who would have thought!

    "We have been informed that monitoring of transmissions occurs only at campus edge, and does not capture internal campus traffic." from there it is a short slide down the slippery slope to start monitoring the internal traffic.

    "Historically, UC Berkeley is one of the bastions of free speech" you can't have free speech without it being spied on because it might not comply with the establishment's idea of "Free speech".

  3. Michael Thibault
    Facepalm

    There is the slightest chance that things would have gone over well had the faculty been consulted beforeha-ha-ha-ha-aa-ha

    I can't. Can't go on.

  4. Winkypop Silver badge
    FAIL

    Be reasonable guys

    We all know you would have said NO if we asked....

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    > In fact, the people installing the system were under strict instructions not to reveal it was taking place.

    If, in fact, this was just for network defence, what's with the gag order then?

    1. GrumpenKraut

      > If, in fact, this was just for network defence, what's with the gag order then?

      Surely "for security reasons". It's safe to call BS whenever you hear this. No exceptions.

  6. Old Handle
    Pirate

    Only one thing to do

    Smash it!

    1. Ole Juul

      Re: Only one thing to do

      Mario, where are you!

      "There's a time when the operation of the machine becomes so odious, makes you so sick at heart, that you can't take part! You can't even passively take part! And you've got to put your bodies upon the gears and upon the wheels…upon the levers, upon all the apparatus, and you've got to make it stop! And you've got to indicate to the people who run it, to the people who own it, that unless you're free, the machine will be prevented from working at all!"

      ~ Mario Savio on the steps of Sproul Hall, 1964

  7. jamesb2147

    Couldn't get past the paywall, but this sounds a hell of a lot like a bog standard Palo Alto firewall to me.

    Don't get me wrong, people should know that their admins can see literally every site they visit, but it's par for the course in academia these days. How else is an admin supposed to keep those luddite English profs from downloading that FREE $manuscript_of_preference!?

    (FWIW, I'm personally highly amused by English profs and others who will very loudly insist that "paper is better" right up until they've actually used a Kindle for travel. Srsly, luddites.)

    1. John Robson Silver badge

      To be fair, paper is nicer to read at home than my kindle (the keyboard one).

      But for travel the kindle wins hands down.

      Actually my kids rather like the kindle as well, easier to hold than a big book.

    2. GrumpenKraut

      > ...people should know that their admins can see literally every site they visit,...

      And admins should now that if they do this without the most perfect reason, they are going to be fired. In other news, people actually dislike being spied on.

      1. Rich 11

        ...people should know that their admins can see literally every site they visit,...

        And they should also know that responsible institutions require us to sign agreements that we will not abuse the trust placed in us with regard to that data.

      2. Robert Helpmann??
        Childcatcher

        Revised to make sense

        The phrase should have been, "people should know that their admins can see literally every site they visit from university-owned infrastructure...." This should be made perfectly clear to all students, faculty and staff when the acceptable use documents were handed to them during orientation or on-boarding. We would like to think that schools have a much broader range of what constitutes acceptable use, but they still have an obligation to provide basic security across their networks in addition to the IT services needed by the organization.

        To the point, though, I have yet to run into one that actually does a good job with any of this. My experience has been that machines intended to be used as kiosks are left logged in with admin privileges, AV and antimalware packages are absent, network defenses are... well, the setup described in the story is hardy amazing. In as much as we complain about government screw-ups in IT projects, school administrators seem to be less capable in this regard.

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      "enough local storage to save over 30 days of all this data"

      Says its a full packet capture device tapping from the main internet pipes. Something like RSA Security Analytics - oh hang on, JanetfromanotherPlanet, HomelandSicuritee, RSA? Nah... probably just wireshark and someone constantly loading DVDs.

    4. LucreLout

      I'm personally highly amused by English profs and others who will very loudly insist that "paper is better" right up until they've actually used a Kindle for travel

      I'm certainly no prof, and I do love my Kindle when travelling, however, for reading academic journals then yes, paper is better by far. I can scribble notes in the margins easily, underline things etc. Lay all the papers out around me when evaluating & analyzing them etc.

  8. Herby

    Nothing to see here, please move along....

    Or some such.

    Yes, they do grok all the data, but in the words of Scott McNealy:

    "You have no privacy, get over it".

  9. Bumpy Cat

    So, an IDS

    I can't imagine any large organization wouldn't have firewall logging and an IDS, with data kept for at least a couple of weeks. Provided it's governed properly, this is hardly news, nor is it 1984.

    The secrecy is strange, but in my personal experience that may well be users just not reading the policies.

  10. allthecoolshortnamesweretaken

    If you to something to protect people, you don't have to hide it from them.

  11. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    without consulting the faculty

    but hey, I'm sure they told the students, so not too bad after all...

  12. s. pam Silver badge
    Facepalm

    Janet from another planet has landed

    And the spies are crawling from the woodwork like Lice on a damp afternoon!

    Who'd of thunk it?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Janet from another planet has landed

      Janet Aqua Velva (her rumored scent) Napolitano is very much a product of US Baby Boomer slash and burn.

  13. Johnny Canuck

    Hmmm

    So the kid who dropped out of school to work at the garage gets access to the full fat internet, but the kids in university and their profs get spied on and restricted access in the name of academic freedom? OK.

  14. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Get your heads out and grow up.

    Other than the few of you that stayed on topic and don't have your heads up your arses, you people and the faculty at Berkley need need to STFU about things you are clearly ignorant about. There should be no expectation pf privacy when you're using someone else's networks and systems. It's MY network. MY servers. MY apps. And I have every right to protect it with whatever I deem necessary.

    Full packet capture and replay through specialized systems like Bro-IDS happens to provide very adept malware detection and response capabilities.

    Oh, and as Rob Graham pointed out on his ErrataSec blog, not only did OmniCISA make what was already protected by the constitution explicitly legal in the United States, Berkley Packet Filter is the backbone of the very shit they're complaining about. How about that for irony?

    1. asdf

      Re: Get your heads out and grow up.

      >. There should be no expectation pf privacy

      Ok AC (with you being the sudden expert on irony). Way to stand up valiantly for your cause. Only missing the nothing wrong nothing to fear argument.

  15. bob, mon!

    Legality trumps morality

    While I sympathize with the faculty on this (to some extent), I would be surprised if they didn't explicitly acknowledge that their uses of university equipment are not private. After all, it's not their gear.

    At my school, I click through an agreement not to abuse the system every time I log in. Of course the admins can see what I do, and they need to.

    1. asdf

      Re: Legality trumps morality

      Private sector obviously its cut and dried where the employer owns the equipment. Morally though its a little more murky when the equipment is owned by the tax payer especially in regards to students even if the legal may be more clear cut.

  16. Anonymous Coward
    FAIL

    No Such Thing as a Free Lunch...er, Speech

    Most likely installed at the behest of Dianne Feinstein and her Husband, the Murd....er, Defense Industry Profiteer, er....Innovator. Seems you can't have Free Speech in America if you criticise Israeli Policy in ANY way, shape or form.

    https://theintercept.com/2015/09/25/dianne-feinstein-husband-threaten-univ-calif-demanding-ban-excessive-israel-criticism/

    1. asdf

      Re: No Such Thing as a Free Lunch...er, Speech

      She got hers from the CIA. Wasn't so fun being on the receiving end but it still didn't fix her power hungry brain damage.

  17. Tree

    Janet Incompetano

    This person is an abuser of men and very mean. Just read about the sexual harassment cases against her. I bet she wants to be like Big Brother (Sis) to disparage and make miserable those who are not the same bent gender that she is.

  18. asdf

    another use case for Tails OS (in vm if nothing else) for browsing

    see title.

  19. Scaffa

    I find it kind of strange she was appointed anyways.

    It's like if Greenpeace hired Ted Nugent as their spokesperson.

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