Exclusive: Snowden persuaded other NSA workers to give up passwords - sources

[Jesus Malverde]

Former U.S. National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden used login credentials and passwords provided unwittingly by colleagues at a spy base in Hawaii to access some of the classified material he leaked to the media, sources said.

A handful of agency employees who gave their login details to Snowden were identified, questioned and removed from their assignments, said a source close to several U.S. government investigations into the damage caused by the leaks.

Snowden may have persuaded between 20 and 25 fellow workers at the NSA regional operations center in Hawaii to give him their logins and passwords by telling them they were needed for him to do his job as a computer systems administrator, a second source said.

The revelation is the latest to indicate that inadequate security measures at the NSA played a significant role in the worst breach of classified data in the super-secret eavesdropping agency's 61-year history.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/11/08/net-us-usa-security-snowden-idUSBRE9A703020131108

lulz

[TwilightGardener]

1. Keep on enjoying Russia, I hear it's nice in the winter.

[davidn3600]

6. Can't be worse than 30+ years in a prison cell

[stevenleser]

21. Oh yes it can. nt

[MADem]

2. Wow, I guess they really ARE hiring morons.

Talk about stupid--and amazing that no one reported him for even ASKING.

[LisaL]

3. Yep. A bunch of people who didn't seem to have a clue.

Snooping around on everybody else.

[idwiyo]

4. Fucking priceless! Even more priceless that enough morons keep defending NSA!

[DevonRex]

5. They trusted a cleared colleague. Who couldn't be trusted. And YOU believe everything

he says, too? How many people here believe everything Snowden has said? And people here call Snowden"s colleagues morons, when at that time he hadn't (to their knowledge) committed a crime.

He sure has now. Committed crimes, that is. I'm pretty much thinking anyone who believed him then was stupid and anyone who believes him now is worse. Duh.

[TheBlackAdder]

9. DP-101: You don't give ANYONE your personal password

I'm sure each employee signed papers stating that their passwords would be secured and not distributed to anyone.

I've been in the computer industry for about 30 years, and of the multitude of sites I were employed or contracted to... NOT ONE allowed the sharing of an ID with anyone... even with Loss Prevention, the External Security Department (the ones who assign you your security rights and privileges) or someone as lowly as a System Administrator.

Folks somehow confuse a SysAdmin with someone who is granted superuser rights. If they were, they wouldn't need other people's userids and passwords.

The employees screwed up... that's why they were reassigned.

===

Any normal employee would have been fired for violating code like that, unless the government is afraid of the damage these folks could do too.

[DevonRex]

11. They were stupid. People who believe snowden NOIW are worse. nt

[Fumesucker]

16. Snowden took a page from his bosses

He was the least untruthful he could be while testifying to Congress.

[cui bono]

17. The NSA revelations aren't based on hearsay, they're based on classified documents.

It's not about believing what Snowden says, there are journalists going through the leaked docs and releasing factual information.

Duh.

Whistle blowers often commit crimes in order to get an important truth out. That's why there are (supposedly, not so much under this administration) whistle blower protection laws.

Duh.

[idwiyo]

22. Only pure, unadulterated moron would EVER give his password to ANYONE.

There is no excuse. This is single most stupid thing and it should be more than enough to get one's stupid arse fired on the spot.

/me shakes head

RE: Snowden
I guess you missed latest Al Gore's statement about Snowden's revelations?

[DevonRex]

25. And what do you think of anyone who believes a person who GOT the passwords?

And STOLE the classified documents? And DIVULGED the TS/SCI information to our enemies? Do you think they are wonderful and do you trust them?

[idwiyo]

43. Why shouldn't I trust the data Mr Snoweden provided? It is consistent with what I know about

surveillance, how easy it is to intercept and collect the data, data analysis, and databases. The validity of the data has nothing to do with Mr Snowden himself, his character, or what he did to obtain that data. Never mind even your VP agrees that Mr Snowden revealed wrongdoing by NSA.

I don't look at Russia, China, entire South America, and the rest of the world as my enemies. But thank you for letting me know you consider me, a British citizen, to be your enemy.

Unlike you, I consider Mr Snowden a whistle-blower. How he obtained the data is irrelevant to me.

[Luminous Animal]

8. +1 We are being surveilled by those who are comfortable

with saying Jawhol!

[idwiyo]

44. Sadly I agree with you. :(

[backscatter712]

23. Can't collect a paycheck if you're not shilling for the intelligence-industrial complex... n/t

[Pretzel_Warrior]

35. social engineering is easier than you want to admit

if he's a Sys Admin, there are people who would have no reason to suspect he's asking for nefarious reasons.

[idwiyo]

45. Those morons are working in IT. First thing one learns on the job is to NEVER reveal your password

to anyone, under any circumstances.

[gulliver]

7. People don't expect the system administrator to be the bad guy.

It's a blind spot. When you call a cop to come to your house because you think you might have a burglar, you don't expect the cop to come in and steal your iPad. Snowden probably told his unfortunate co-workers that he needed their passwords for valid reasons. They paid the price.

[TheBlackAdder]

10. I was at a retail company - The Loss Prevention Manager was arrested for trying to steal $$$ in furs

You don't trust anyone with your userid and password, not anyone.

The employees knew they were violating their employment agreements.

They should be happy they weren't fired for doing so, like most companies would.

===

A SysAdmin is not some superuser job. Sure, they are 'superusers' for defining the servers and storage, etc.. It's the guy managing the servers, not the confidential data within it. That's where the individual userid access rights come into play.

[DevonRex]

12. Snowden violated HIS employment agreement and his oath.

I took that oath myself.

[TheBlackAdder]

13. So did every employee that gave him their passwords. Just as guilty. n/t

[DevonRex]

49. I'm not letting them off the hook.

Not at all. Stupidity and trusting a snake like Snowden is a violation they were warned about over and over again. In briefing after briefing. I agree.

I would never have done it in a million years. I do wonder what methods he used get the information. I find it hard to believe that many people trusted him or just fell for his BS. I've never seen or heard of anything like it in all my time in

[Jesus Malverde]

14. Millennials strongly believe in a life-work balance that sometimes self immolates their "careers".

Work is over rated and lets not forget he was working for a private for profit corporation.

[Luminous Animal]

15. Oath to cover up crimes? Kudos!

Now is the time for all good persons to come to the aid of the country.

Oaths are for suckers. Employment agreements are for the trembling.

My employment agreement has sat in my desk drawer for 5 years. I've never signed it, I never will.

[cui bono]

18. Snowden is a whistle blower. Whistle blowers supposedly have protection.

But this administration chooses to prosecute them more than any other.

Better to have a whistle blower violate his agreement and oath than have rampant spying on citizens and govts all over the world. Thankfully he did and now, finally, congress is working on changing how the NSA operates.

[randome]

19. There is a difference between a leaker and a whistleblower.

The Administration has prosecuted leakers and has added protections for whistleblowers.

None of the documents that Snowden stole reveal illegality so how can you say he is a whistleblower?
[hr][font color="blue"][center]There is nothing you can't do if you put your mind to it.
Nothing.[/center][/font][hr]

[cui bono]

30. Evidence for your claim about the Admin? The opposite is true.

Obama Whistleblower Prosecutions Lead To Chilling Effect On Press

“I can tell you that people who normally would meet with me, sort of in a more relaxed atmosphere, are on pins and needles,” Landay said of the reporting climate during the Obama years, a period of unprecedented whistleblower prosecutions. The crackdown on leaks, he added, seems “deliberately intended to have a chilling effect.”

<snip>

“The Obama administration's been extremely aggressive in trying to root out whistleblowers within the government,” NBC News investigative reporter Michael Isikoff says in the film. The New Yorker’s Jane Mayer, describing the secrecy required in her reporting for a profile of whistleblower Thomas Drake amid government prosecution, said the experience didn’t “feel [like] America, land of the free press.”

Drake, a former senior executive of the National Security Agency, says in the film, "it's extremely dangerous in America right now to be right as a whistleblower when the government is so wrong." He adds: "speaking truth to power is now a criminal act."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/16/obama-whistleblower-prosecutions-press_n_3091137.html

On the Other Side of the Mirror

The Obama administration has been cruelly and unusually punishing in its use of the 1917 Espionage Act to stomp on governmental leakers, truth-tellers, and whistleblowers whose disclosures do not support the president's political ambitions. As Thomas Drake, himself a victim of Obama's crusade against whistleblowers, told me, "This makes a mockery of the entire classification system, where political gain is now incentive for leaking and whistleblowing is incentive for prosecution."

The Obama administration has charged more people (six) under the Espionage Act for the alleged mishandling of classified information than all past presidencies combined. (Prior to Obama, there were only three such cases in American history, one being Daniel Ellsberg, of Nixon-era Pentagon Papers fame.) The most recent Espionage Act case is that of former CIA officer John Kiriakou, charged for allegedly disclosing classified information to journalists about the horrors of waterboarding. Meanwhile, his evil twin, former CIA officer Jose Rodriguez, has a best-selling book out bragging about the success of waterboarding and his own hand in the dirty work.

Obama's zeal in silencing leaks that don't make him look like a superhero extends beyond the deployment of the Espionage Act into a complex legal tangle of retaliatory practices, life-destroying threats, on-the-job harassment, and firings. Lots of firings.
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/06/obamas-whistleblowers-stuxnet-leaks-drones

Obama Promises, Including Whistleblower Protections, Disappear From Website

Amid the Obama administration's crackdown against whistleblowers, Change.gov, the 2008 website of the Obama transition team laying out the candidate's promises, has disappeared from the internet.

The Sunlight Foundation notes that it last could be viewed on June 8, which was two days after the first revelations from Edward Snowden (who had then not yet revealed himself) about the NSA's phone surveillance program. One of the promises Obama made on the website was on "whistleblower protections:"

Often the best source of information about waste, fraud, and abuse in government is an existing government employee committed to public integrity and willing to speak out. Such acts of courage and patriotism, which can sometimes save lives and often save taxpayer dollars, should be encouraged rather than stifled. We need to empower federal employees as watchdogs of wrongdoing and partners in performance. Barack Obama will strengthen whistleblower laws to protect federal workers who expose waste, fraud, and abuse of authority in government. Obama will ensure that federal agencies expedite the process for reviewing whistleblower claims and whistleblowers have full access to courts and due process.

The White House did not respond to multiple requests for comment on why the page was deleted. The site had offered a way to compare Obama's promises and administration actions and still can be viewed on the Wayback archive.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/26/obama-whistleblower-website_n_3658815.html

The legality of the NSA's actions is arguable. It can't really be tried in court due to all the secrecy laws. Their actions are unconstitutional when you look at the 4th Amendment. This has been argued on DU countless times, by people who can say it all better than I. I'm sure you've seen it all.

If there were no problem with what is being done by the NSA then why are there so many esteemed journalists etc... writing about how terrible it is? Why is congress working on passing laws to reign them in?

Snowden revealed the extent of what was going on. And now we've been finding out that our govt is spying on citizens of other countries. Not just suspected terrorists, but millions of random people. Are you really defending that?

Snowden is a whistleblower. Period.

[randome]

33. Drake's charges were dropped by this administration.

Maybe not soon enough but they were dropped.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]There is nothing you can't do if you put your mind to it.
Nothing.[/center][/font][hr]

[treestar]

20. Eddie didn't even try to use that protection!

That's why he's a criminal.

And now look at him, he's trying desperately to get attention again!

[cui bono]

29. No, he would have been stupid to try to use that protection with this admin.

Obama Whistleblower Prosecutions Lead To Chilling Effect On Press

“I can tell you that people who normally would meet with me, sort of in a more relaxed atmosphere, are on pins and needles,” Landay said of the reporting climate during the Obama years, a period of unprecedented whistleblower prosecutions. The crackdown on leaks, he added, seems “deliberately intended to have a chilling effect.”

<snip>

“The Obama administration's been extremely aggressive in trying to root out whistleblowers within the government,” NBC News investigative reporter Michael Isikoff says in the film. The New Yorker’s Jane Mayer, describing the secrecy required in her reporting for a profile of whistleblower Thomas Drake amid government prosecution, said the experience didn’t “feel [like] America, land of the free press.”

Drake, a former senior executive of the National Security Agency, says in the film, "it's extremely dangerous in America right now to be right as a whistleblower when the government is so wrong." He adds: "speaking truth to power is now a criminal act."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/16/obama-whistleblower-prosecutions-press_n_3091137.html

On the Other Side of the Mirror

The Obama administration has been cruelly and unusually punishing in its use of the 1917 Espionage Act to stomp on governmental leakers, truth-tellers, and whistleblowers whose disclosures do not support the president's political ambitions. As Thomas Drake, himself a victim of Obama's crusade against whistleblowers, told me, "This makes a mockery of the entire classification system, where political gain is now incentive for leaking and whistleblowing is incentive for prosecution."

The Obama administration has charged more people (six) under the Espionage Act for the alleged mishandling of classified information than all past presidencies combined. (Prior to Obama, there were only three such cases in American history, one being Daniel Ellsberg, of Nixon-era Pentagon Papers fame.) The most recent Espionage Act case is that of former CIA officer John Kiriakou, charged for allegedly disclosing classified information to journalists about the horrors of waterboarding. Meanwhile, his evil twin, former CIA officer Jose Rodriguez, has a best-selling book out bragging about the success of waterboarding and his own hand in the dirty work.

Obama's zeal in silencing leaks that don't make him look like a superhero extends beyond the deployment of the Espionage Act into a complex legal tangle of retaliatory practices, life-destroying threats, on-the-job harassment, and firings. Lots of firings.
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/06/obamas-whistleblowers-stuxnet-leaks-drones

Obama Promises, Including Whistleblower Protections, Disappear From Website

Amid the Obama administration's crackdown against whistleblowers, Change.gov, the 2008 website of the Obama transition team laying out the candidate's promises, has disappeared from the internet.

The Sunlight Foundation notes that it last could be viewed on June 8, which was two days after the first revelations from Edward Snowden (who had then not yet revealed himself) about the NSA's phone surveillance program. One of the promises Obama made on the website was on "whistleblower protections:"

Often the best source of information about waste, fraud, and abuse in government is an existing government employee committed to public integrity and willing to speak out. Such acts of courage and patriotism, which can sometimes save lives and often save taxpayer dollars, should be encouraged rather than stifled. We need to empower federal employees as watchdogs of wrongdoing and partners in performance. Barack Obama will strengthen whistleblower laws to protect federal workers who expose waste, fraud, and abuse of authority in government. Obama will ensure that federal agencies expedite the process for reviewing whistleblower claims and whistleblowers have full access to courts and due process.

The White House did not respond to multiple requests for comment on why the page was deleted. The site had offered a way to compare Obama's promises and administration actions and still can be viewed on the Wayback archive.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/26/obama-whistleblower-website_n_3658815.html

[Pretzel_Warrior]

36. whistle blowers don't "hustle" information out of others who are not in positions of power

this guy is more and more showing the marks of a spy with an agenda.

[cui bono]

39. Says you. n/t

[idwiyo]

46. You took an oath to cover up crimes? And you intend to keep it? Says a lot...

[DevonRex]

50. That is the silliest thing ever said by anyone on DU ever.

[idwiyo]

52. I agree, your statement was the one of silliest ones I've read on DU so far

[Skittles]

26. I expect my system administrator to have his own passwords

OR if he is helping me with an issue, I LOG IN WITH MY OWN PASSWORD

[woodsprite]

28. We sign an agreement every year, as part of our yearly review

that we understand and *agree to* the security measures and PNPI restrictions. You sign it during the face-to-face interview with your manager. If you decline, you're terminated, as well as all system and key card access immediately revoked. And we work for a freakin school -- not a corporate or govt. entity. We are also very upfront and constantly letting employees, students and families know that at no time should anyone associated with the school ever ask you for your password or pin, and to immediately report anyone who does.

For our secure systems that may require sr. admins to help the users, we have a role defined that they can "view as user XXXX" (without needing a password). They can see the same views the user sees, but nothing can be changed and in some cases, sensitive data will be blanked out.

[Skittles]

48. corporate password resets are often a problem

they used to be taken care of very quickly but with offshore they can take days

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

51. Or, in this case, the Good Guy.

[Scuba]

24. Amazing that some are still blaming Snowden for this mess. They're either complicit or stupid.

[Pretzel_Warrior]

37. Snowden is guilty. That's why he ran to Communist enemies of the U.S.

[Scuba]

40. Enemies?

In January of this year we exported goods valued at $741,000,000 to Russia and $9,384,000,000 to China.

Source: http://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/balance/c4621.html

[Pretzel_Warrior]

41. we exported to the Soviets too

[Scuba]

42. I consider the MIC a bigger enemy to the American People.

But that's just me.

[Historic NY]

27. Tell me again thats whistle blowing....

hope he enjoys beet soup.

[Luminous Animal]

31. Who thinks this story is even true? Snowden "may" have persueded? Anonymous sources?

[randome]

32. It makes more sense than he's a master hacker who didn't understand what an FTP server is.

[hr][font color="blue"][center]There is nothing you can't do if you put your mind to it.
Nothing.[/center][/font][hr]

[Luminous Animal]

34. Keep flogging that horse.

[Pretzel_Warrior]

38. you mean the truth?

[idwiyo]

47. Wouldn't be surprised if those morons had passwords written on post-it notes stuck on the monitor.

Or used their date of birth as a password.