Computer Security Experts Say NSA Can Hide Surveillance Code in Firmware Deep in Hard Drives

Kaspersky Labs Equation infection: Kaspersky Labs says the highest number of machines infected with Equation programs were in Iran, Russia and Pakistan.
From article]
The US National Security Agency has figured out how to hide spying software deep within hard drives made by Western Digital, Seagate, Toshiba and other top manufacturers, giving the agency the means to eavesdrop on the majority of the world's computers, according to cyber researchers and former operatives.
That long-sought and closely guarded ability was part of a cluster of spying programs discovered by Kaspersky Lab, the Moscow-based security software maker that has exposed a series of Western cyberespionage operations.
Kaspersky said it found personal computers in 30 countries infected with one or more of the spying programs, with the most infections seen in Iran, followed by Russia, Pakistan, Afghanistan, China, Mali, Syria, Yemen and Algeria. The targets included government and military institutions, telecommunication companies, banks, energy companies, nuclear researchers, media, and Islamic activists, Kaspersky said
[* * *]
According to Kaspersky, the spies made a technological breakthrough by figuring out how to lodge malicious software in the obscure code called firmware that launches every time a computer is turned on.
Disk drive firmware is viewed by spies and cybersecurity experts as the second-most valuable real estate on a PC for a hacker, second only to the BIOS code invoked automatically as a computer boots up.
"The hardware will be able to infect the computer over and over," lead Kaspersky researcher Costin Raiu said in an intervi
[. . .]
According to former intelligence operatives, the NSA has multiple ways of obtaining source code from tech companies, including asking directly and posing as a software developer. If a company wants to sell products to the Pentagon or another sensitive US agency, the government can request a security audit to make sure the source code is safe.
"They don't admit it, but they do say, 'We're going to do an evaluation, we need the source code,'" said Vincent Liu, a partner at security consulting firm Bishop Fox and former NSA analyst. "It's usually the NSA doing the evaluation, and it's a pretty small leap to say they're going to keep that source code."ew..

http://www.stuff.co.nz/technology/digital-living/66279485/nsa-hiding-equation-spy-program-on-hard-drives

NSA hiding Equation spy program on hard drives
JOSEPH MENN
Last updated 10:01, February 17 2015

IRS Chief: We Found Back Up Tapes of Emails, Reviewing To See If Any Need To Be Destroyed

[From article]
The head of the IRS confirmed Wednesday that investigators looking into missing emails from ex-agency official Lois Lerner have found and are reviewing "backup tapes" -- despite earlier IRS claims that the tapes had been recycled.
IRS Commissioner John Koskinen, testifying before a House oversight subcommittee, stressed that he does not know "how they found them" or "whether there's anything on them or not." But he said the inspector general's office advised him the investigators are reviewing tapes to see if they contain any "recoverable" material.
The revelation is significant because the IRS claimed, when the agency first told Congress about the missing emails, that backup tapes "no longer exist because they have been recycled."
It is unclear whether the tapes in IG custody contain any Lerner emails, but Koskinen said investigators are now checking.
[. . .]
"It is unbelievable that we cannot get a simple, straight answer from the IRS about this hard drive," House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp, R-Mich., said in a statement Tuesday.
Democrats, meanwhile, slammed Republicans for continuing to bring Koskinen before the congressional committees.
"This is unseemly, it's embarrassing, this is not a proper way to run an investigation," Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., said.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/07/23/tale-tapes-irs-head-confirms-investigators-have-found-backup-tapes-in-lerner/?cmpid=cmty_twitter_fn

Tale of the Tapes: IRS head confirms investigators have found backup tapes in Lerner probe
Published July 23, 2014

FoxNews.com

FEC Official Also Lost Her Emails.

[From article]
Republicans are investigating another Obama administration official who played politics on the job but escaped prosecution when the Federal Election Commission recycled her hard drive before evidence could be recovered.
April J. Sands resigned her position as an FEC attorney in April 2014 after investigators confronted her with tweets she sent and a video interview she conducted during work hours, advocating for the election of President Barack Obama and other Democratic candidates – and asking people to contribute to their campaigns.
When the FEC's Office of Inspector General began the process of filing criminal charges, however, it Found that the agency had destroyed her computer's hard drive before it could be seized.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2692218/Another-recycled-hard-drive-Former-Lois-Lerner-deputy-prosecuted-fundraising-Democrats-job-FEC-destroyed-evidence.html

Another 'recycled' hard drive: Former Lois Lerner deputy can't be prosecuted for fundraising for Democrats on the job because the FEC destroyed the evidence
April Sands was a Federal Election Commission lawyer before she resigned this year and accepted a ban on holding government jobs until 2016
She was former IRS official Lois Lerner's deputy when she was at the FEC
Like the allegations against Lerner, Sands admitted violating the Hatch Act, which prohibits government workers from advocating for candidates
And as seems to be the case with Lerner, Sands escaped prosecution because her hard drive mysteriously 'crashed' and was recycled
She was known as 'Obama girl' in her office, and a colleague recalled how she boasted that Obama's 2012 campaign would hire her away
By DAVID MARTOSKO, U.S. POLITICAL EDITOR
Daily Mail (UK)
PUBLISHED: 02:50 EST, 15 July 2014 | UPDATED: 03:28 EST, 15 July 2014

Copies of Copies on Copy Machine Hard Drives

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/05/17/eveningnews/main6492698.shtml

NEW YORK, May 17, 2010
Photocopier Fallout: Congress, FTC "Concerned"After CBS News Investigation, Rep. Markey Wants Copy Machine Industry to "Step Up"

By Armen Keteyian
CBS News