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back to article That guy using a Surface you keep seeing around town could be a spy

Microsoft's pointed out that the United States' National Security Agency has added some Surface devices to the nation's okay-for-accessing-secure-information list. That list's proper name is the Commercial Solutions for Classified Program and was created because the US government used to spend years building a secure suite of …

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  1. allthecoolshortnamesweretaken

    Hmm... W10 approved of by the NSA. Courtesy amongst professionals?

    15 0 Reply
    1. hplasm
      Reply Icon
      Big Brother

      Like a worm eating its own tail...

      Or as in this case, a worm with its head up its own arse.

      4 0 Reply
  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Windows 10. Secure in the sense....

    The self referencial snooping data feed was going direct to them, anyhow.

    7 0 Reply
  3. Anonymous Coward
    Windows

    Disturbing...

    I mean: Windows 10 is mostly known for its continuous feature update model. How in the world can you label that 'secure' while you can't even be sure that some new update patches won't undo the current security model?

    15 0 Reply
    1. EddieD
      Reply Icon

      Re: Disturbing...

      The enterprise version can be configured to use WSUS (or whatever M$ are calling it this week) which bypasses the continuous update system, so machines update to the schedule of the sysadmin.

      1 0 Reply
  4. chivo243 Silver badge
    Holmes

    Win10?

    This cannot work out well. For the coppers that is... crims looking happier?

    2 0 Reply
  5. K.o.R

    They've been NCIS-approved for ages.

    3 0 Reply
  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    What special build are the spies using?

    They sure aren't going to risk getting slurped themselves:

    https://forums.theregister.co.uk/forum/1/2017/02/09/microsoft_pitches_windows_10_to_developers_creators_update/#c_3099580

    1 0 Reply
    1. hplasm
      Reply Icon
      Happy

      Re: What special build are the spies using?

      Linux -Surface Edition.

      See- Secure Boot can be bypassed...!

      1 1 Reply
  7. John Smith 19 Gold badge
    Gimp

    Of course when we say "secured" we mean when properly configured*

    and naturally not secured from us, since you work for the USG, and we work for the USG what do have to hide from us?

    *I don't have Win10 but from what I've heard it's a real bas***d to stop it whizzing data all over the place.

    3 0 Reply
  8. MGJ

    Oh no, I'm in a coffeeshop, using my government issued Surface Pro. Does this mean I am a spy?

    2 0 Reply
    1. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Anonymous Coward

      @MGJ if I told you, you'd have to kill yourself.

      5 0 Reply
    2. Paul Crawford Silver badge
      Reply Icon

      Don't you know? Maybe you could spy on yourself for a while to work out if you are, or are not, actually a spy?

      2 0 Reply
    3. bombastic bob Silver badge
      Reply Icon
      Devil

      "Oh no, I'm in a coffeeshop, using my government issued Surface Pro. Does this mean I am a spy?"

      yeah that cleartext user/pass over the publically accessible wifi, while running Win-10-nic, really helps with THAT image...

      0 0 Reply
      1. MGJ
        Reply Icon

        Of course I cant connect over the wifi here, and have to use my Mifi device.

        0 0 Reply
  9. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Donald Trump

    Donald Trump, Donald Trump riding through the glen.

    Donald Trump, Donald Trump with his band of dodgy men.

    Bans to East, walls to the South.

    Donald Trump.

    Donald Trump.

    What a cunt.

    6 6 Reply
  10. imanidiot Silver badge

    Never even seen one

    Dispite their supposedly large sales volume (even in the Netherlands) I've never actually seen anybody own or use a MS Surface... If I ever do see someone use one I'll be sure to avoid doing anything suspicious around them.

    2 0 Reply
    1. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Never even seen one

      @imanidiot

      Its because most of them are in for repair due to the screens turning the colour of tramps piss after a month or two.

      One of my clients has 3 of them, they suck hard. The support on them is crap and getting replacements under warranty takes ages.

      Getting a refund takes even longer.

      Don't get me wrong. I like the idea of the Surface Pro, however, I don't think the technology is quite there. You're effectively paying the price of a premium ultrabook for a mid ranged spec laptop with a crap keyboard that also has a touchscreen.

      Ive seen a surge in popularity for the Lenovo 710 11 recently...ive had execs queuing up to replace their surfaces for those.

      3 0 Reply
  11. Your alien overlord - fear me

    If the guy (or girl) using a Surface Pro is asking the coffee shop owner for a receipt, probably a gov't employee of some description. Duct tape over the webcam? Paranoid :-)

    1 0 Reply
  12. Frank N. Stein

    Really? LENOVO didn't make the list? Why not? Their Servers are in use by the government. Hmm...

    0 0 Reply
    1. Lusty
      Reply Icon
      Holmes

      Yes, why would Lenovo, the Chinese technology company not be approved as a supplier to American intelligence services? Madness I tells ya!

      You may find that the NSA asked the government to put certain services on Chinese hardware...

      1 0 Reply
  13. Nolveys
    Mushroom

    Special Memo Paper

    The memos announcing Surface/W10 acceptance as secure had to be printed on a special type of paper containing a blend of cotton and fiberglass. Regular paper was found to experience explosive catastrophic failure when subjected to that amount of irony.

    2 0 Reply

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