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.
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