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Comment by steve19 | Hacker News Reader

Their "problem" is easily solvable by pairing sysadmins up. Make sure every command or windows click is seen an authorized by another, maybe even an anonymous sysadmin at a different location. If one sysadmin "steals" secrets, the other sysadmin would be implicated, so they have a lot of reason to pay attention. Costs will increase, of course.

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Costs will either increase, or collusion or both.

Imagine they double their headcount - just to get more leaks, because they have more people looking at the data.

You pair them randomly so as two co-conspirators can't arrange to work together. You make sure the ones who are paired don't trust each other. You tell them that they are expected to report any suspicious behavior -- like someone mentioning the constitution -- and that they will be tested. You do test them. They get paired with an incognito auditor whose job is to offhandedly mention that what they're doing is violating someone's rights. If they don't report him, they're disciplined.

Of course, all these things also make it hard to convince them that they're the good guys.

Makes me wonder if the NSA will routinely use entrapment as a technique to catch would-be conspirators. Sounds like the best environment to serve ones country…

Sounds like a secret police within a secret (kind of) police.

Welcome to NSA - proud users of the tactics of the East German Stasi

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