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Report: NSA Infected More Than 50,000 Networks by Mid-2012
Source: PC Magazine
Report: NSA Infected More Than 50,000 Networks by Mid-2012
By David Murphy November 23, 2013 05:07pm EST
Time to break out the virus scanner – or, perhaps, nuke your computer from orbit. (It's the only way to be sure.)
According to new documents provided by the National Security Agency's favorite foe, former employee-turned-whistleblower Edward Snowden, Dutch newspaper NRC Handelsblad is reporting that the NSA has infected more than 50,000 computer networks with malware in a process known as "Computer Network Exploitation."
The process itself is nothing new; The Washington Post reported on these exploits in late August of this year. These "implants," as they're known in NSA terms, are deployed by a department within the agency known as TAO, or "Tailored Access Operations." Software engineers within TAO allegedly break into various routers, switches, and firewalls – to name a few devices – in an effort to compromise networks and, thus, gain access to the data being transmitted by the devices connecting up to them.
As of 2008, TAO was allegedly able to deploy approximately 21,252 of these implants, and it was estimated that as many as 85,000 or so could be deployed by the end of 2013. Since the numbers NRC Handelsblad is reporting are based on a mid-2012 count, it's certainly possible that the NSA has been able to achieve its goal.
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By David Murphy November 23, 2013 05:07pm EST
Time to break out the virus scanner – or, perhaps, nuke your computer from orbit. (It's the only way to be sure.)
According to new documents provided by the National Security Agency's favorite foe, former employee-turned-whistleblower Edward Snowden, Dutch newspaper NRC Handelsblad is reporting that the NSA has infected more than 50,000 computer networks with malware in a process known as "Computer Network Exploitation."
The process itself is nothing new; The Washington Post reported on these exploits in late August of this year. These "implants," as they're known in NSA terms, are deployed by a department within the agency known as TAO, or "Tailored Access Operations." Software engineers within TAO allegedly break into various routers, switches, and firewalls – to name a few devices – in an effort to compromise networks and, thus, gain access to the data being transmitted by the devices connecting up to them.
As of 2008, TAO was allegedly able to deploy approximately 21,252 of these implants, and it was estimated that as many as 85,000 or so could be deployed by the end of 2013. Since the numbers NRC Handelsblad is reporting are based on a mid-2012 count, it's certainly possible that the NSA has been able to achieve its goal.
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Read more: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2427547,00.asp
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