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Hissyspit

(45,788 posts)
Wed Mar 12, 2014, 10:03 AM Mar 2014

How the NSA Plans to Infect ‘Millions’ of Computers with Malware (Snowden Docs)

Source: The Intercept

NEWS
How the NSA Plans to Infect ‘Millions’ of Computers with Malware

By Ryan Gallagher and Glenn Greenwald
12 Mar 2014, 9:19 AM EDT 9

One presentation outlines how the NSA performs “industrial-scale exploitation” of computer networks across the world.

Top-secret documents reveal that the National Security Agency is dramatically expanding its ability to covertly hack into computers on a mass scale by using automated systems that reduce the level of human oversight in the process.

The classified files – provided previously by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden – contain new details about groundbreaking surveillance technology the agency has developed to infect potentially millions of computers worldwide with malware “implants.” The clandestine initiative enables the NSA to break into targeted computers and to siphon out data from foreign Internet and phone networks.

The covert infrastructure that supports the hacking efforts operates from the agency’s headquarters in Fort Meade, Maryland, and from eavesdropping bases in the United Kingdom and Japan. GCHQ, the British intelligence agency, appears to have played an integral role in helping to develop the implants tactic.

In some cases the NSA has masqueraded as a fake Facebook server, using the social media site as a launching pad to infect a target’s computer and exfiltrate files from a hard drive. In others, it has sent out spam emails laced with the malware, which can be tailored to covertly record audio from a computer’s microphone and take snapshots with its webcam. The hacking systems have also enabled the NSA to launch cyberattacks by corrupting and disrupting file downloads or denying access to websites.

Read more: https://firstlook.org/theintercept/article/2014/03/12/nsa-plans-infect-millions-computers-malware/

59 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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How the NSA Plans to Infect ‘Millions’ of Computers with Malware (Snowden Docs) (Original Post) Hissyspit Mar 2014 OP
Virus is a language n/t reddread Mar 2014 #1
Heh.... progressoid Mar 2014 #5
Are you talking to me? Or are you just practicing for one of those performances of yours? nt TheBlackAdder Mar 2014 #6
This, I think: bemildred Mar 2014 #39
Please, please let me climb back into my bubble of denial. Cant we just throw Snowden in prison rhett o rick Mar 2014 #2
'Potentially millions'. That doesn't mean this is their plan. randome Mar 2014 #3
its not a plan reddread Mar 2014 #4
an expensive program to boot questionseverything Mar 2014 #29
"...which we can assume means a 'legitimate' target according to law and regulations." Wilms Mar 2014 #14
What about Siemens in Germany? go west young man Mar 2014 #35
Snowden can say anything he wants. Funny how he has no evidence of this. randome Mar 2014 #38
Industrial espionage is illegal and violates fair trade acts. go west young man Mar 2014 #46
Really .. Lenomsky Mar 2014 #47
Maybe you can show the evidence that the NSA is 'churning terrabytes' on Americans. randome Mar 2014 #52
They never intended to use the expensive program. merrily Mar 2014 #50
Greenwald is a poopy head so this can't be true. L0oniX Mar 2014 #7
Ahhh.. the gullible are at it again! whistler162 Mar 2014 #8
And the NSA can read your mind via brain waves, too (Snowden Docs) baldguy Mar 2014 #9
Sounds like nonsense. Please post some credible links where you got that specific info. nt Bernardo de La Paz Mar 2014 #15
Snowden & his fans are the only ones posting nonsense. baldguy Mar 2014 #19
I try thinking two or three times before tossing someone down the glory hole reddread Mar 2014 #21
David Icke Lenomsky Mar 2014 #48
Snowden merely confirmed what we already know baldguy Mar 2014 #49
it is not read your mind..it is read your keystrokes as you type questionseverything Mar 2014 #30
I want residuals on my content. Downwinder Mar 2014 #10
This may be the most practical idea anyone has come up with siligut Mar 2014 #13
Yep, they are using your info for free. Selling it. bemildred Mar 2014 #18
Many people are quite comfortable living inside the Matrix... pragmatic_dem Mar 2014 #11
Something for those who aren't... cprise Mar 2014 #58
thanks for that link, i had no idea about this project. nt pragmatic_dem Mar 2014 #59
That might explain some phishy or phishing E-mails claiming to be from RC Mar 2014 #12
I'll quit blaming Nigerians. Downwinder Mar 2014 #17
I bet they use FB games like farmville cosmicone Mar 2014 #16
And a lot of them won't work for you UNLESS you grant access to your contacts list, friends, etc. n/ woodsprite Mar 2014 #22
The whole point of those games is to collect data to sell to 3rd parties. arcane1 Mar 2014 #23
On the money. go west young man Mar 2014 #37
This IS A BIG F*g Deal ! LittleGirl Mar 2014 #20
Everyday More and More is Revealed fascisthunter Mar 2014 #24
I'm sure everything the KGB did was legal. JackRiddler Mar 2014 #25
Many Small Businesses use the CLOUD to Store Data...Check out Graphic: KoKo Mar 2014 #32
Nothing stops them marions ghost Mar 2014 #54
They are fascists. woo me with science Mar 2014 #26
Forget NSA, we do that job all by ourselves... Historic NY Mar 2014 #27
Just a few of the very significant differences merrily Mar 2014 #51
Yay, more refurbished FUD from the FUD factory. ucrdem Mar 2014 #28
So Snowden has the 2013 Intel bleck budget (top secret) grasswire Mar 2014 #31
The hits just keep on coming... blackspade Mar 2014 #33
All of this to keep us 'safe'. toby jo Mar 2014 #34
more NSA panic-mongering for GG's self-glory uhnope Mar 2014 #36
welcome to ignore fascisthunter Mar 2014 #55
how it IS being used reddread Mar 2014 #40
DU rec frwrfpos Mar 2014 #41
I've uninstalled MalwareBytes IDemo Mar 2014 #42
Sorry, what's wrong with malwarebytes? Dem4ever27 Mar 2014 #43
Nothing at all wrong with it IDemo Mar 2014 #44
Thanks. That's a relief! Dem4ever27 Mar 2014 #56
Thanks, 9/11 blkmusclmachine Mar 2014 #45
Not that it keeps me anonymous, but I don't use my facebook page at all. WCLinolVir Mar 2014 #53
No problem, take what you want. n/t Jefferson23 Mar 2014 #57
 

rhett o rick

(55,981 posts)
2. Please, please let me climb back into my bubble of denial. Cant we just throw Snowden in prison
Wed Mar 12, 2014, 10:14 AM
Mar 2014

and forget this all happened?

 

randome

(34,845 posts)
3. 'Potentially millions'. That doesn't mean this is their plan.
Wed Mar 12, 2014, 10:17 AM
Mar 2014

And the article references 'a target's computer', which we can assume means a 'legitimate' target according to law and regulations. There is nothing in this article that matches the headline. If there is evidence that the NSA is doing this, or plans to, let's see it.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]Treat your body like a machine. Your mind like a castle.[/center][/font][hr]

questionseverything

(9,651 posts)
29. an expensive program to boot
Wed Mar 12, 2014, 01:32 PM
Mar 2014

The intelligence community’s top-secret “Black Budget” for 2013, obtained by Snowden, lists TURBINE as part of a broader NSA surveillance initiative named “Owning the Net.”

The agency sought $67.6 million in taxpayer funding for its Owning the Net program last year. Some of the money was earmarked for TURBINE, expanding the system to encompass “a wider variety” of networks and “enabling greater automation of computer network exploitation.”

 

Wilms

(26,795 posts)
14. "...which we can assume means a 'legitimate' target according to law and regulations."
Wed Mar 12, 2014, 11:32 AM
Mar 2014

DUZY!

You crack me up.



 

go west young man

(4,856 posts)
35. What about Siemens in Germany?
Wed Mar 12, 2014, 06:12 PM
Mar 2014
http://www.bbc.com/news/25907502

Excerpt:

US intelligence leaker Edward Snowden has alleged the National Security Agency engaged in industrial espionage.

In an interview with Germany's ARD TV channel, the former NSA contractor said the agency would spy on big German companies that competed with US firms.

Mr Snowden, who was granted temporary asylum by Russia, also said he believed that US officials wanted to kill him.

His leaks caused outrage in Germany when it came to light Chancellor Angela Merkel's phone had been bugged.
 

randome

(34,845 posts)
38. Snowden can say anything he wants. Funny how he has no evidence of this.
Wed Mar 12, 2014, 06:18 PM
Mar 2014

And spying on foreign individuals is not against the law. It may be a bit 'unseemly' but without knowing the context, reasons, etc. it's simply more of Snowden's 'Be afraid! Be very afraid!' act.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]You should never stop having childhood dreams.[/center][/font][hr]

 

go west young man

(4,856 posts)
46. Industrial espionage is illegal and violates fair trade acts.
Wed Mar 12, 2014, 10:29 PM
Mar 2014

If the information is being used by Booze, Allen, Hamilton who are a part of the Carlyle Group to place bets on the stock exchange it is illegal in a number of ways. I doubt there will be any prosecution because the US has gone right down the tubes when it comes to that kind of thing. But it is still illegal. Both Booze and Carlyle have made a decent climb on the stock market since Snowdon initiated the revelations. Both stocks have gone up in value by roughly a quarter since that time.

Lenomsky

(340 posts)
47. Really ..
Wed Mar 12, 2014, 11:17 PM
Mar 2014

You really believe the NSA, GCHQ et al and not churning terabytes of data per second on millions nationally and internationally?

They are that's not in doubt .. someone I know assisted the Home Office in UK installing MIRROR routers at ISP major hubs. Transparent monitoring.

While I understand the need for security 'terrorists' are not stupid they can use PGP and other technologies.

Snowden merely confirmed what many already know.

It's getting fucking ridiculous I take cash to other countries when visiting as my Credit card Company impose a 3.75% fee on every transaction but if I carry more than $1,000/£1,000/!,000e they have the right to question where it came from .. it's a grand not a million but hey HSBC can launder billions and get a fine.

Why are we being monitored? The simple answer is total control. If I fart they will hear it if they wish by infecting my PC.

Ludicrous! By all means target persons of interest using due process but wholesale pffft!

 

randome

(34,845 posts)
52. Maybe you can show the evidence that the NSA is 'churning terrabytes' on Americans.
Thu Mar 13, 2014, 09:41 AM
Mar 2014

Because so far, Snowden has not. Rein the NSA in. Close them down, it's all the same to me. But conflating phone metadata records with 'spying on everyone' is silly.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]All things in moderation, including moderation.[/center][/font][hr]

merrily

(45,251 posts)
50. They never intended to use the expensive program.
Thu Mar 13, 2014, 09:31 AM
Mar 2014

And these are not the droid you're looking for, either.

 

baldguy

(36,649 posts)
9. And the NSA can read your mind via brain waves, too (Snowden Docs)
Wed Mar 12, 2014, 11:02 AM
Mar 2014

Are we at the point where "the Lizard People really control the world through the Illuminati" yet?

 

reddread

(6,896 posts)
21. I try thinking two or three times before tossing someone down the glory hole
Wed Mar 12, 2014, 12:07 PM
Mar 2014

you might miss something, or lose an opportunity to rebut nonsense.
not with you though.
nothing to be missed.
adios.

Lenomsky

(340 posts)
48. David Icke
Wed Mar 12, 2014, 11:26 PM
Mar 2014

He is a certifiable loon but some of what he says (not lizard people that was a TV show) makes complete sense.

I'm no conspiracy theorist but let's just be honest with ourselves we're getting taken for a ride by corporations and power elite.
I've discussed this with friends often 'I ask what will the world be lime in 300 years?' Th replies vary but I assume it will be wrecked so the power players make million/billions and play with there expensive toys with no regard for the planets future.

As I said in a prior post Snowden merely confirmed what we already know .. well those of us that can think for ourselves.

 

baldguy

(36,649 posts)
49. Snowden merely confirmed what we already know
Thu Mar 13, 2014, 06:41 AM
Mar 2014

Yet the Snowden fans treat him as the Second Coming, and Glenn Greenwald as his prophet.

And if someone points out that Snowden merely confirmed what we already know, that he conveniently changed his opinion about leakers only after the black guy got in the Oval Office, or that his actions are closer in style to those of Dick Cheney and Karl Rove than Daniel Ellsberg, or that his political associations indicate that he's a RW libertarian objectivist and not the liberal/progressive hero his fans make him out to be, which is further indicated his choice of the grifter-gadfly "journalist" to promote his tour of those bastions of freedom and individual liberty: China and Russia, and he also treated his girlfriend like shit - well the person that points that out must be a totalitarian fascist RW plant.

questionseverything

(9,651 posts)
30. it is not read your mind..it is read your keystrokes as you type
Wed Mar 12, 2014, 01:38 PM
Mar 2014

An implant plug-in named CAPTIVATEDAUDIENCE, for example, is used to take over a targeted computer’s microphone and record conversations taking place near the device. Another, GUMFISH, can covertly take over a computer’s webcam and snap photographs. FOGGYBOTTOM records logs of Internet browsing histories and collects login details and passwords used to access websites and email accounts. GROK is used to log keystrokes. And SALVAGERABBIT exfiltrates data from removable flash drives that connect to an infected computer./////////////////////////////

grok

siligut

(12,272 posts)
13. This may be the most practical idea anyone has come up with
Wed Mar 12, 2014, 11:22 AM
Mar 2014

We all have to copyright our data and incorporate ourselves, that would make their snooping theft and corporate espionage.

bemildred

(90,061 posts)
18. Yep, they are using your info for free. Selling it.
Wed Mar 12, 2014, 11:38 AM
Mar 2014

Once they go commercial with it, you have rights, just like your image etc. This applies to lots of people.

 

pragmatic_dem

(410 posts)
11. Many people are quite comfortable living inside the Matrix...
Wed Mar 12, 2014, 11:14 AM
Mar 2014

Eating steak, Cypher exclaims that "ignorance is bliss".

 

RC

(25,592 posts)
12. That might explain some phishy or phishing E-mails claiming to be from
Wed Mar 12, 2014, 11:19 AM
Mar 2014

Skype, Pay-Pal and Face Book.

 

cosmicone

(11,014 posts)
16. I bet they use FB games like farmville
Wed Mar 12, 2014, 11:36 AM
Mar 2014

and many iPhone and Android apps that demand to use stuff they don't need to. For example, why would a chess app need access to my contact list?

woodsprite

(11,911 posts)
22. And a lot of them won't work for you UNLESS you grant access to your contacts list, friends, etc. n/
Wed Mar 12, 2014, 12:26 PM
Mar 2014
 

arcane1

(38,613 posts)
23. The whole point of those games is to collect data to sell to 3rd parties.
Wed Mar 12, 2014, 12:40 PM
Mar 2014

I don't participate in them, but I also have no assurance that my data is safe when friends of mine submit to those games

 

fascisthunter

(29,381 posts)
24. Everyday More and More is Revealed
Wed Mar 12, 2014, 12:50 PM
Mar 2014

...we are not living in a free country when our privacy is impacted, and when a government agency has that ability to use that private information for whatever it chooses. I thought the KGB was bad,now we have the NSA here doing some similar creepy shit but in a more modern age with more modern technology.

 

JackRiddler

(24,979 posts)
25. I'm sure everything the KGB did was legal.
Wed Mar 12, 2014, 12:55 PM
Mar 2014

Did the whistleblowers show evidence it wasn't? Heck no. And they were terrible people!

KoKo

(84,711 posts)
32. Many Small Businesses use the CLOUD to Store Data...Check out Graphic:
Wed Mar 12, 2014, 02:44 PM
Mar 2014


This means that data for Businesses can be hacked into and malware inserted to steal or misdirect contracts business proposals and competitor information. Meaning small businesses who can't afford sophisticated IT personnel (and use cloud to avoid server maintenance & upgrades )could have their private information stolen from cloud which gives an advantage to larger businesses that NSA Contractors could sell off. What's to stop some rogue contractors from stealing info to give to companies who pay them.

This is not only terrible from a personal standpoint but corrupts competitive business practices giving advantage to the large companies to keep out the smaller.

marions ghost

(19,841 posts)
54. Nothing stops them
Thu Mar 13, 2014, 11:37 AM
Mar 2014

just one of the many possibilities--imagine the power and control when all ur data belong to US...

Historic NY

(37,449 posts)
27. Forget NSA, we do that job all by ourselves...
Wed Mar 12, 2014, 01:14 PM
Mar 2014

with the crap we post and repost and then send out to others.They don't need a Fake Facebook, the real one does enough.

merrily

(45,251 posts)
51. Just a few of the very significant differences
Thu Mar 13, 2014, 09:36 AM
Mar 2014

We don't do it with tax dollars.

We don't do it secretly.

The Constitution does not constrain us, only the USG.

We probably won't be jailing anyone or extraordinary renditioning anyone or drone killing anyone.

ucrdem

(15,512 posts)
28. Yay, more refurbished FUD from the FUD factory.
Wed Mar 12, 2014, 01:16 PM
Mar 2014

About what I'd expect from e-bay. Their purloined powerpoint slide, so good they use it twice, show this was a proposal for foreign intel collection, pointing across the Atlantic to targets in Europe and Africa:



and once more with feeling:



The presentation was evidently made in August 2009. That was a long time ago, and no evidence that it was adopted is presented in the article, the sole purpose of which is to swiftboat the current Dem admin, as usual.

Who would benefit from that I wonder?




 

toby jo

(1,269 posts)
34. All of this to keep us 'safe'.
Wed Mar 12, 2014, 03:04 PM
Mar 2014

From: that backwards middle east, or the 'commies' - hell,they'll never go away, then there's the 'chinaman' scare.

And if all this went away and we became a democratic global society? Well, then there would be criminals everywhere. And if they all went away, well then we'd have to watch just to make sure nobody got 'hurt'.

That black budget has got them on a sugar high, they'll never get off it.

 

uhnope

(6,419 posts)
36. more NSA panic-mongering for GG's self-glory
Wed Mar 12, 2014, 06:12 PM
Mar 2014

Read down into the article and you get this

It is unclear how many of the implants are being deployed on an annual basis or which variants of them are currently active in computer systems across the world.


Greenwald doesn't even know if, and has no proof of, these things are being used at all, just that it's a possible "plan." But it makes a great headline!
 

reddread

(6,896 posts)
40. how it IS being used
Wed Mar 12, 2014, 06:42 PM
Mar 2014

to track, spy and control politicians.
Somebody steps out of line, they get prosecuted for the skeletons in their data.
This is not supposition, the technology is being exploited, and the ramifications to
what we expect from our system of government are more than profound.
game over.

 

Dem4ever27

(49 posts)
43. Sorry, what's wrong with malwarebytes?
Wed Mar 12, 2014, 07:31 PM
Mar 2014

Is there some connection with the NSA? If this is a joke, please let me know, 'cause I don't get it.

WCLinolVir

(951 posts)
53. Not that it keeps me anonymous, but I don't use my facebook page at all.
Thu Mar 13, 2014, 09:44 AM
Mar 2014

If they want to get to you they will. Microsoft updates.

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