NSA Staffer: Snowden Didn't Dupe Coworkers Out of Passwords

[Mnpaul]

198. I don't have to accept either

How would employees know about a beam splitter installed between their data farms. We can tap into fiber cables on the ocean floor. Above ground would be a piece of cake.

The Internet companies’ data centers are locked down with full-time security and state-of-the-art surveillance, including heat sensors and iris scanners. But between the data centers — on Level 3’s fiber-optic cables that connected those massive computer farms — information was unencrypted and an easier target for government intercept efforts, according to three people with knowledge of Google’s and Yahoo’s systems who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

It is impossible to say for certain how the N.S.A. managed to get Google and Yahoo’s data without the companies’ knowledge. But both companies, in response to concerns over those vulnerabilities, recently said they were now encrypting data that runs on the cables between their data centers. Microsoft is considering a similar move.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/26/technology/a-peephole-for-the-nsa.html?pagewanted=all&_r=2&