What the CIA, Hacking Tools and Marketing Have in Common

Alice Salles writes in TheAntiMedia.org about the Wikileaks revelations and relates how the CIA has lost control of the hacking tools, trojans, viri, and other malware they produced. As I read the article, it came to me that this was only natural. They are in the same boat as marketers when it comes to keeping their “secrets”.

Considering any company selling goods or services. Some are good at it, some are horrible. Most fall somewhere in-between. What's the secret of the most successful marketers? It is no “secret” at all if you stop to think about it. They are selling whatever, thus they make it known what they are selling to the general public. Thus whatever they are doing to sell whatever they are selling has to be right out in the open. This has been long known to those who write sales copy or are marketers themselves. If you want find a magazine ad that sells, look at the last several issues. The successful ads are the ads you see again and again. Magazine ads are expensive so marketers will not, cannot continue to pay for them unless they produce results. So how does this relate to the CIA? Simple.

For the CIA's plot to work they must install that malware on computers. Your computer. My computer. Every computer they can. In order for the malware to work they must distribute a copy to every computer they possibly can. While most of us, including myself, are oblivious to all the crap running on our computers, including malware, there are those among us who like nothing more than finding it and either turning it to their own purposes or announcing their findings to the world. About that last bit, most of the world ignores such nerds so these announcements end up circulating in “nerd circles” where most never see the light of day. No matter, the information is out there. If you cared to actually search, whatever the CIA, NSA, Russians, Clinton Crime Family, or Skippy, the kid next door put on your computer, rest assured it is there, intact, and ready to be discovered. So it is no wonder the CIA cannot keep these “secret”. Now at some point they will figure out a way to make their stuff near invisible. Maybe they already have, but just so I don't give them any ideas, I will not publish my thoughts on this. Rest assured if they are successful cloaking their software, even those techniques cannot last forever. All of this involves the same principles as computer security. If you can lock it, someone will find a way to unlock it.

None of this is intended to make you feel all warm, fuzzy and comfortable with your computer again. The fact is the powers that be are determined to collected every bit of information on every one of us and use any or all of it to their distinct advantage. In my own case, where they have little, if anything, to hold against me, they can always make it up. This is the REAL danger of their intrusions into our privacy. Consider the story line in Orwell's “1984” where Winston changes a “news” story and then changes it again. The gist of this story line is the “facts” are what those in power decide those facts to be. We are witnessing this exact principle at work before our eyes! One friend, a Windows expert, once opined the only true method of securing a computer would be to dismantle it, smash it, burn it, dig a 12 foot hole, and bury it in concrete. Only then, it MIGHT be somewhat secure. He didn't think to EMP it, but I am sure he would today. My point is, our lives are not secure. Just as we've been living in a fantasy world where our God-given rights are secured by a constitutional republic, we are not at all secure in our homes, persons or possessions. Our “personal” property is always subject to taxation, inspection or confiscation at the whim of any number of government agents. While the latest revelations about the CIA are and should be disturbing, they should be of no surprise to anyone. Neither should anyone be lured into believe that we can somehow turn this nation back to anything resembling a constitutional republic. From my unabashedly Christian perspective, I contend the only real approach is to turn to our Heavenly Father and live lives pleasing to Him. We live in this age for a reason. The only reason I can ascertain is to help prepare the world for the return of His Son and our Lord and Savior, Christ Jesus.