While it's simple for end users to re-flash their hard drives using executable files provided by manufacturers, it's just about impossible for an outsider to reverse engineer a hard drive, read the existing firmware, and create malicious versions.

-http://arstechnica.com/security/2015/02/how-omnipotent-hackers-tied-to-the-nsa-hid-for-14-years-and-were-found-at-last/

This may be due to my own ignorance on these matters, but I don't understand their claims about it being nearly impossible to be able to read the hard drive firmware and figure it out. People have hacked other "black boxes" by poking and prodding, reverse engineered them, and then written custom code to run on them. What makes hard drive firmwares so different from anything else?

-Deozaan (February 18, 2015, 02:44 PM)

Because the OS normally doesn't provide low level access to drive hardware to even an administrative user.

On the "good" side, we may get to see our first real world Bond villains.  :o

-Vurbal (February 18, 2015, 07:07 AM)

But having Bond villains without Bond seems a tad bit counterproductive.  :tellme:

-wraith808 (February 18, 2015, 07:21 AM)

You're just not thinking enough like a spook. And no, I can't believe I wrote that either.

Maybe the creation of a new superspy agency was their long game from the beginning.

Step 1: Create a team of top secret super hackers
Step 2: Wait for them to go rogue and start SMERSH
Step 3: Use it as an excuse to build a new army of super agents

That's convoluted and asinine enough to be believable. It does, however, have one major flaw. Nobody in the intelligence business thinks that far ahead. Technically, you could say we have no intelligence agencies - just counter intelligence, and only in the most literal sense.

A government sponsored team of super hackers - what could possibly go wrong?