Carnivore, the FBI's system for tapping email runs on Windows 2000

Voter Flawed A Follow-Up on Several Back Columns and Can Diebold Voting Machines Really Be Hacked?
By Robert X. Cringely

[...] Last week's CALEA column did result in readers sending other interesting/appalling stories, including one about Carnivore, the FBI's system for tapping ISP communications with you and me. The DCS-1000 or Carnivore system is apparently rife with security defects, starting with the fact that it is a Windows 2000 box exposed to the Internet, typically not behind the firewall, at the ISP and remote-controlled from the FBI office using PCAnywhere. The data it captures are downloaded insecurely in the PCAnywhere session. In fact, the FBI admitted that some significant e-mail intercepts concerning Osama Bin Laden were "contaminated" and were not legally usable (the technician reportedly was ordered to destroy all the intercepts) due to technical problems with the box.

The National Security Agency reportedly argued for putting a secure version of GNU/Linux in the Carnivore boxes, but that recommendation encountered mysterious administrative roadblocks. [...]

Yikes!