Is there a chance smartcards have a backdoor? (was Re: Any future for the Crypto Stick?)

[Peter Lebbing]

On 05/12/13 13:20, Paul R. Ramer wrote:
> On that note, why assume that the manufacturer would not do the opposite: 
> feign helping the spy agency

By the way, there's a big difference. In the scenario that they install a
backdoor but don't show it to the certification entities and such, they do that
because they're forced to do so by the NSA (the NSA wouldn't want their backdoor
certified :). If they feign helping the NSA, they aren't forced to do that, it
would be their choice.

> In either case, we are assuming the company would try to supply different
> bodies with different ROMs.

But they are completely different circumstances: force versus own choice.

Peter.

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