NSA slapped malware on 50,000+ networks, says report

[Indi Guy]

Source: CNET

A new slide culled from the trove of documents leaked by Edward Snowden shows where the NSA placed malware on more than 50,000 computer networks worldwide, according to Dutch media outlet NRC.

The NSA management presentation slide from 2012 shows a world map spiderwebbed with "Computer Network Exploitation" access points.

Like all the NSA slides we've seen so far, this one is unlikely to win a Powerpoint beauty pageant anytime soon.

Not that this should distract anyone from the profoundly disturbing implications of this US government malware map that's being reported by a Dutch news agency -- an outlet to which the US government gave a "no comment."...



Read more: http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-57613550-38/nsa-slapped-malware-on-50000-networks-says-report/

[HereSince1628]

1. We have met the enemy, and they are us

[Indi Guy]

3. We've gone from "the world's policemen" to the world's corrupt cops.

...So much for the US government being the good guys. Gone are the days when the word of our leaders could be trusted.

Now we're infecting tens of thousands of computer networks with real SPYware.

[Octafish]

11. The World's Police State

And they know where you live, what you do, who you know, what you say, what you got, where you go, what you know...

[Indi Guy]

12. Yeah but...

...at least they're keeping me secure in this scary post 9/11 world.

[Octafish]

13. Especially that kind-hearted liberal Erik Prince.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x6359835

He believes in piecemeal and just-us.

[AAO]

24. Their protecting our freedoms, for Christ's sake!

[Enthusiast]

29. Yeah! Without our freedom intact

they might keep us under surveillance.

[Enthusiast]

28. They know what kind of porn you watch.

[R. Daneel Olivaw]

19. But it's only meta spyware!

[Indi Guy]

23. The NSA never meta spyware they didn't like!

[City Lights]

4. Indeed. nt

[Jack Rabbit]

8. Dissenting

The NSA is not us. The US government, which is supposed to be us, is not us.

[Diclotican]

2. Indi Guy

Indi Guy

I wonder, if someone want to sue NSA - as putting mal ware on others network, by default is a crime by anyone else, why should NSA be different from being sued for damage to networks... If a company have beeing doing anything like this - it would be sued out of existence....

Diclotican

[Indi Guy]

5. The fact that the NSA disregards our Constitution (the law of the land)...

...makes their activities criminal. They can't even abide by the rules of the FISA court, which is basically a rubber stamp for everything "extra-Constitutional".

So don't be surprised to see criminal actions taken against the NSA here at home as well as internationally.

[Diclotican]

21. Indi Guy

Indi Guy

Someone, inside the US, who might get attacked by it - or outside the US, who is attacked by this male ware should get the organization - or some of the ones who did this to a kind of justice - the funny thing with this types of attack, is that if you just use enough time and resources - you will always be able to find out who did it - and maybe track it back from where it started.. It might take some time - but with the right resource - it is more than possible to find who did it - and to back it up with evidence...

After all - it is not just US who have the nesseary resources - and know how to get the evidence needed to get people prosecuted...

Diclotican

[Laelth]

6. k&r for exposure. n/t

-Laelth

[BelgianMadCow]

7. 50.000 NETWORKS

The already pretty huge hacking of Belgacom (which I posted on earlier, here is a Spiegel article about that alone)
is just ONE of these 50.000.

False Linked-in profiles were used for the hack, by the way.

[KoKo]

9. Recommend!

[marble falls]

10. Who didacted the map?

[nashville_brook]

14. wow.

[NealK]

15. K&R

Bunch of tugs.

[JDPriestly]

16. Misnamed.

A "top secret" GCHQ presentation from the archive of whistleblower Edward Snowden indicates that the project, which carried the codename "Operation Socialist," was aimed at enabling "better exploitation of Belgacom" and at improving understanding of the provider's infrastructure. The presentation is undated, but a further document indicates that access has been possible since at least 2010.

http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/belgian-prime-minister-angry-at-claims-of-british-spying-a-923583.html

Should have been called "Operation Fascist."

To implant malware in the computer systems of others in aggressive act, a sort of invasion by computer. And the name "Operation Socialist" suggests that the targeting of the victims is not based on security interests but rather on political, economic and ideological interests of, once again, the corporate honchos in America. I could be wrong. Maybe they just misnamed the program, and maybe the name is a joke. But it sure strikes me as an ideologically right-wing program.

[Enthusiast]

30. Anyone that is an advocate for peace or

single payer health care is a target of the government (and industry too). I know, it's not a joke or funny.

[Octafish]

33. ...or advocates Warren Commission got it wrong...

...gets the Treatment.

[Enthusiast]

35. Yup. They give us the business.

[R. Daneel Olivaw]

17. Bring the NSA/USA before the world court then. If this

can be proven then the USA needs to be slapped silly...as any other country that does this should be.

I added the last line for the NSA apologistas and spinners, a.k.a Republicans, who say that everybody does it.

[Psephos]

20. Unfortunately, and unbelievably, a lot of Democrats are also apologistas and spinners.

Seems to be a bipartisan disease.

If there's anything less compatible with a liberal mindset than these lawless spies and their Big Brother crimes, I'm not aware of it.

[Enthusiast]

31. I'll tell you something even less compatible.

Spending 57 cents of every tax dollar on the MIC.

[valerief]

34. [phone]

[Indi Guy]

36. That's because we have the best political leaders...

...that money can buy.

[jmowreader]

18. Is it malware, or just a wiretap?

The US government has a LONG history of wiretapping - they dug a tunnel from Alt-Glienicke in West Berlin to the Soviets' main telephone switching center in East Berlin during the 1950s, and that's not the last time they tried this shit. (Problem was, the stenographer at the meetings between the Americans and the British to work out the details was MI-6 officer George Blake, who was a Soviet spy.) And when telephones went to microwave links, the Americans figured out soon after how to intercept those links - the problem isn't the interception, but being able to do it without advertising that you are.

It would be a hell of a lot easier for them, and far more undetectable, to slip the phone company some hard currency every month in exchange for connecting the local American spook's home phone line to the network of interest, and it'd get them to the same place as installing mysterious "malware" on the network. NSA uses the easiest and cheapest methods they can to get them the results they want, and a $7 piece of cable is a hell of a lot easier and cheaper than a $100,000 piece of malware that's got to be rewritten for every network they want to invade.

[cprise]

26. Its mostly malware on routers.

One of the Snowden leaks revealed they prefer to break into peoples' routers.

[blkmusclmachine]

25. Renegade, out of control, and dangerous

[unreadierLizard]

27. Scary stuff.

In before the "Everything is fine because Obama is in charge" or something brigade comes charging in.

[Enthusiast]

32. If you haven't done anything wrong you have nothing to hide.