Confirmed: The NSA physically intercepts electronic goods to plant tapping devices

Overheal

This is the scariest **** I've read in a long time.

http://gizmodo.com/the-nsa-actually-intercepted-packages-to-put-backdoors-1491169592

TAO [Hacking Division inside of NSA] uses software hacking in things like Windows bug reports to get the information and device control they need, of course. But if that's not enough, they even have a special group of hardware hackers who create modified equipment for TAO specialists to try and plant. A monitor cable that allows "TAO personnel to see what is displayed on the targeted monitor," costs $30. An "active GSM base station" for monitoring cellphone calls costs $40,000, and converted flashdrives that plant bugs and can also transmit and receive data with hidden radio signals come in 50-packs for more than $1 million. The NSA octopus spreads its tentacles even further.

Basically, documentation has leaked this week revealing that the NSA physically intercepted shipped consumer goods - to plant bugs in them. In addition to all the other crazy bull**** TAO does. Essentially by intercepting online order data from electronics companies (Best Buy, Amazon, Cisco, UPS, Fedex, etc) by picking it out of unencrypted internet traffic, the NSA would have explicit knowledge of where electronic goods were going (Tracking numbers, etc.) they could actually intercept say, a new cisco conference phone system being shipped to someplace the NSA feels like spying on.

A more advanced read of TAO operations can be found here: http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/the-nsa-uses-powerful-toolbox-in-effort-to-spy-on-global-networks-a-940969.html - among these, old favorites like STUXNET, but also their ability to read Windows Crash Reports over the air, as they are being sent to microsoft:

When TAO selects a computer somewhere in the world as a target and enters its unique identifiers (an IP address, for example) into the corresponding database, intelligence agents are then automatically notified any time the operating system of that computer crashes and its user receives the prompt to report the problem to Microsoft. An internal presentation suggests it is NSA's powerful XKeyscore spying tool that is used to fish these crash reports out of the massive sea of Internet traffic.
The automated crash reports are a "neat way" to gain "passive access" to a machine, the presentation continues. Passive access means that, initially, only data the computer sends out into the Internet is captured and saved, but the computer itself is not yet manipulated. Still, even this passive access to error messages provides valuable insights into problems with a targeted person's computer and, thus, information on security holes that might be exploitable for planting malware or spyware on the unwitting victim's computer.

Although the method appears to have little importance in practical terms, the NSA's agents still seem to enjoy it because it allows them to have a bit of a laugh at the expense of the Seattle-based software giant. In one internal graphic, they replaced the text of Microsoft's original error message with one of their own reading, "This information may be intercepted by a foreign sigint system to gather detailed information and better exploit your machine." ("Sigint" stands for "signals intelligence.")

jamesbondings

will they hear all my late night calls to babestation....if so do you think i could get the recordings? costs me a fortune....

strobe

It's pretty apparent at this stage that everyone, everywhere should just assume every electronic communication they make is completely open to the NSA or one of their partner organisations should they wish it to be.

The weird thing is if I'd have posted that 3 years ago it would have been followed by a big string of tin foil hats, and lizard people and 'the conspiracy theory forum is that way ->' type posts. Now however anyone making one of those posts will look like a bit of gibbering moron (moreso than before).

kneemos

Probably just as well someone is keeping an eye on the lunatics in fairness.

DoYouEvenLift

Inb4 "I have nothing to hide anyway"


Fuk off

Iranoutofideas

This is about a year old no?

Check the stories on theintercept.com if you want to read the latest on the NSA. It's the site set up by the people involved in the Snowden case. Really disturbing **** coming out of the US and elsewhere regarding surveillance.

syklops

How is this news?

Iranoutofideas

The latest story regarding the NSA and the Snowden affair is that the U.S. threatened Germany that if they gave asylum to Snowden they would withhold intelligence from German officials relating to imminent terror threats on German soil.


So the US would gladly sit back, knowing that a terrorist plot was about to unfold in Germany, all to spite the Germans for offering asylum to Snowden.


Shameful, truly shameful.

strobe

Iranoutofideas wrote: »

The latest story regarding the NSA and the Snowden affair is that the U.S. threatened Germany that if they gave asylum to Snowden they would withhold intelligence from German officials relating to imminent terror threats on German soil.


So the US would gladly sit back, knowing that a terrorist plot was about to unfold in Germany, all to spite the Germans for offering asylum to Snowden.


Shameful, truly shameful.

Nah it's grand sure, Obama strongly suggested that, perhaps, maybe, at some point, that they should, perhaps, maybe, think about having a discussion about the intelligence practices in the US, so that they could maybe, at some point, have an honest debate about it, in private, that would definitely, maybe lead no where, before all this stuff even leaked. So you see. It was all under control and Snowden was just being a bit of a dick.

lavdad

The Tao that can steal your dick pics is not the eternal Tao.

SpaceSasqwatch

Was reading a while ago that all the major players in the states regarding networking(cisco etc)had petitioned the us government to stop this sh1te as it was damaging the corporations reputation.

They are increasingly being regarded the same way as huaweii(a company with connections to the chinese military)that any data carried over their equipment is unsafe.

Heres a great article from Ars Technica.....its scary the level they operate at !
http://arstechnica.com/security/2015/02/how-omnipotent-hackers-tied-to-the-nsa-hid-for-14-years-and-were-found-at-last/

syklops

Iranoutofideas wrote: »

The latest story regarding the NSA and the Snowden affair is that the U.S. threatened Germany that if they gave asylum to Snowden they would withhold intelligence from German officials relating to imminent terror threats on German soil.


So the US would gladly sit back, knowing that a terrorist plot was about to unfold in Germany, all to spite the Germans for offering asylum to Snowden.


Shameful, truly shameful.

Sure half the time they withold the information anyway. Its Coventry all over again.

SEPT 23 1989

YES WE CAN

Akrasia

It's an arms race more or less

All the global intelligence agencies are doing this to the extent that they have the ability to implement these schemes.

Hopefully they'll arrive at some kind of Mutually assured destruction agreement whereby they will all have the ability to wreak havok to such an extent that they agree that it's in nobodies best interests to launch a first strike

Since Nuclear proliferation happened, the only thing that kept us from armageddon was the ability of the nuclear armed states to closely monitor each other and be confident that they would know straight away if an attack was imminent.

Electronic surveilance is necessary because nobody trusts each other and always presumes that the other guys are out to get them at the first opportunity, and if they could get away with it, they probably would

Electronic surveilance is the price we pay for not having to put up with constant disruptive cyber attacks from unfriendly states and powerful economic interests.

Elessar

Spy agency in spying practice shocker! This is what they are paid to do. I don't agree with it, at all, but it's gonna happen. I'm more concerned about keeping my private data private, and less concerned that the NSA are going to physically bug my new iPhone.

nelly17

But theres so muc data being created on a daily basis and its growing year on year Is this really an issue for your everyday user with nothing to hide? I'm guessing that they target people for very specific reasons. But then again I guess there are issues around military intelligence and corporate intellectual property

hatrickpatrick

<American government> We only use this to target suspected terrorists </American government>

No, you don't. You target absolutely everybody and then search everybody's data for people who might be terrorists. There's a difference.

hatrickpatrick

nelly17 wrote: »

But theres so muc data being created on a daily basis and its growing year on year Is this really an issue for your everyday user with nothing to hide? I'm guessing that they target people for very specific reasons. But then again I guess there are issues around military intelligence and corporate intellectual property

Put it this way: If you were a political activist challenging the status quo, or a politician about to run against the current government, would you trust them not to search all of your communications for evidence of past affairs, sexual preference, mental health service utilisation, porn habits (an area which the NSA admits to using to discredit people), police records, bank / financial records, etc?

Everybody has something to hide, if "something to hide" simply means embarrassing or intimate personal information which they don't want random people to know about without their consent. And if politicians have the ability to access such information, there is absolutely no doubt whatsoever that they will use this ability to discredit their opponents.

Ush1

Yeah but Obama said Edward Snowden is not a patriot so I think I'll just believe him.

MarkAnthony

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Encrypted for everyone's safety.

the_syco

strobe wrote: »

The weird thing is if I'd have posted that 3 years ago it would have been followed by a big string of tin foil hats, and lizard people and 'the conspiracy theory forum is that way ->' type posts.

Three years ago a NSA bot would have given the standard "tin foil hat" post.

Because of Snowden, they can't say that now. What they can do is confirm they have eyes everywhere, which is almost as good.

syklops wrote: »

How is this news?

Ignorance is bliss.

Akrasia wrote: »

Hopefully they'll arrive at some kind of Mutually assured destruction agreement whereby they will all have the ability to wreak havok to such an extent that they agree that it's in nobodies best interests to launch a first strike

With nations, this can happen, but with terrorist groups whose f**ked up version of religion that would thrive in a world without electronics, there will be no "mutually assured destruction agreement", as the terrorists would just flick the switch if destruction over the enemy was guaranteed.

hatrickpatrick wrote: »

<American government> We only use this to target suspected terrorists </American government>

The difference between the terrorist and the innocent is that the innocent is easier to track.

syklops

nelly17 wrote: »

Is this really an issue for your everyday user with nothing to hide? I'm guessing that they target people for very specific reasons. But then again I guess there are issues around military intelligence and corporate intellectual property

The FBI/CIA are monitoring a known Al Qaeda informer called Pat Clarke. Unluckily for you, he lives in your town. One day Pat goes into Starbucks and 10 minutes later exits - without a coffee. The next day you go into Starbucks with a voucher you cut from the paper, free half caf Machiato with this voucher. You present your voucher and are informed, "Sorry, that offer ended on Monday. That'll be 4.95". "4.95!" you say, "Thats as much as a pint. No Im grand thanks."

You leave, also without a coffee. CIA/FBI mofo makes a note "Unknown man seen leaving Starbucks with similar pattern to principle".

Next thing you know, (or dont know as you are unaware of it), your phone is bugged, the CIA are reading your emails, reading your boards comments, reading your boards private messages. Going through your facebook. They dont have the full picture yet. They only have out of context messages and actions. You make an off the cuff, sarcastic remark somewhere thats construed as anti-american, and now the CIA can link you to a known Al Qaeda supporter. I don't want to think what happens next, but you have absolutely no defence. No way of defending yourself. "Im entitled to a phonecall" might get you one if you have been arrested by the cops, it gets you didly squat if you are in a CIA safe house in Swords.

syklops

MarkAnthony wrote: »

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jnfkljsdnfkjlndsajkfnsdjaknfjnfjknsfjhsshriuhuirueoijcnxv vnkjnvlkasdjvojavjvconoicvnfvcnidsnvlksadmnvjsanvlkjnsdlvknmsadklvnjknvlksdanvlksdanvklsdnvsadnvlksnadcvlkjsajfhjaofjnmvnc,mzxjkndshfodsjfoijcvlkncxvnm\

fhdjkhfkljdsahfoihiufhjhjknvnjkcniudshafueuwfuihgdsakjcnvksjncsanbvcanmvkcnklsvanc;lnvkdsanvjkjsadvhasdvnkjnvcjkxznvcnvklajsoifjioghjcslkvn

Encrypted for everyone's safety.

After a brief frequency analysis Im going to say this isnt encrypted, just gibberish. If it is encrypted please tell me, I've no plans for tonight.

the_syco

nelly17 wrote: »

Is this really an issue for your everyday user with nothing to hide?

Like the way if you a devoted (insert faith here) and pray to (insert god here) everyday, you won't catch Ebola, if you are an everyday user, you have no reason to fear the CIA spying on you.

KomradeBishop

strobe wrote: »

It's pretty apparent at this stage that everyone, everywhere should just assume every electronic communication they make is completely open to the NSA or one of their partner organisations should they wish it to be.

The weird thing is if I'd have posted that 3 years ago it would have been followed by a big string of tin foil hats, and lizard people and 'the conspiracy theory forum is that way ->' type posts. Now however anyone making one of those posts will look like a bit of gibbering moron (moreso than before).

You still get that kind of response when you point out Ireland's history of illegal wiretapping and the like, and suggest a possibility of this kind of thing still going on - in my view, you can be pretty much guaranteed that stuff of this nature goes on in Ireland as well (especially when you consider many of the corporate multinationals and their data centers, being located here).

You don't even need government to be involved either for it to happen, probably trivial for it to be done among corporations.

The Backwards Man

I'd be more annoyed if all that cash diverted to espionage an d intelligence gathering wasn't actually used for spying and they were just sitting round on their arses drinking coffee all day.

MarkAnthony

syklops wrote: »

After a brief frequency analysis Im going to say this isnt encrypted, just gibberish. If it is encrypted please tell me, I've no plans for tonight.

It's encrypted gibberish.

Eugene Norman

KomradeBishop wrote: »

You still get that kind of response when you point out Ireland's history of illegal wiretapping and the like, and suggest a possibility of this kind of thing still going on - in my view, you can be pretty much guaranteed that stuff of this nature goes on in Ireland as well (especially when you consider many of the corporate multinationals and their data centers, being located here).

You don't even need government to be involved either for it to happen, probably trivial for it to be done among corporations.

Irelands wiretapping is amateur town. The british used to tap all land lines.

KomradeBishop

Eugene Norman wrote: »

Irelands wiretapping is amateur town. The british used to tap all land lines.

I wouldn't assume that's the case, when there is a crapload of money to be made by technicians in telecoms companies, selling on information about vulnerabilities in their systems, or organizing corporate espionage among rival companies - by implementing (fairly technically trivial) wiretaps.

I wouldn't put it past any major telecoms company - and Ireland isn't exactly big on investigating this kind of fraud (more likely to prosecute whistleblowers than fraudsters here).

Seems highly likely to me, that stuff like this may go on here - you don't need our government to be involved, just think of how valuable and useful an ethically-corrupt technician in a major telco could be, to all sorts of people (from major companies/countries, even to powerful individuals looking to spy upon certain people).

Smiles35

Eugene Norman wrote: »

Irelands wiretapping is amateur town. The british used to tap all land lines.

Any land line could be tapped at the exchange. Racing tips straight from the bookies mouths was a particular favorite though.

hatrickpatrick

Ush1 wrote: »

Yeah but Obama said Edward Snowden is not a patriot so I think I'll just believe him.

On that note, I love the way so many conservative Republicans who are going out of their way to defend surveillance are willing to take a judgement on Snowden's patriotism from a man they accuse of being the ultimate anti-patriot

I mean sure Snowden may be a traitor but at least he's not a Muslim from Kenya with a forged US birth certificate, right?