Doo, doo, doo, looking out my backdoor! Crypto expert Microsoft products leave door open to NSA is a CNN article with a startling revelation (thanks to the very many who wrote in on this):

The chief scientist at an Internet security company reported the flaw at a recent conference in Santa Barbara where he discussed a "key" entrance into the cryptographic standard used in Microsoft Windows products. That includes Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows NT4 and Windows2000.

"It turns out that there are really two keys used by Windows; the first belongs to Microsoft, and it allows them to securely load (the cryptography services)," said Andrew Fernandes in a press release. Fernandes works for Cryptonym, a company based in Ontario.

The press release states "the second belongs to the NSA. That means that the NSA can also securely load (the services) on your machine, and without your authorization."

The discovery "highly suggests" that the NSA has a key it could use to enter encrypted items on anybody's Windows operating system, said Ian Goldberg, chief scientist at Zero-Knowledge Systems. Goldberg was among a few dozen people in the audience at the conference when Fernandes dropped his bomb.