Wednesday, November 27, 2013

Can anyone now seriously argue that the NSA is not making us enemies where we had none before?

Dutch news: NSA has infected 50,000 computer networks with malware:
The American intelligence service - NSA - infected more than 50,000 computer networks worldwide with malicious software designed to steal sensitive information. Documents provided by former NSA-employee Edward Snowden and seen by this newspaper, prove this.
A management presentation dating from 2012 explains how the NSA collects information worldwide. In addition, the presentation shows that the intelligence service uses ‘Computer Network Exploitation’ (CNE) in more than 50,000 locations. CNE is the secret infiltration of computer systems achieved by installing malware, malicious software.

One example of this type of hacking was discovered in September 2013 at the Belgium telecom provider Belgacom. For a number of years the British intelligence service - GCHQ – has been installing this malicious software in the Belgacom network in order to tap their customers’ telephone and data traffic. The Belgacom network was infiltrated by GCHQ through a process of luring employees to a false Linkedin page.
The article claims that NSA has implanted malware that can be remotely activated at will, implying that it is not targeted at specific targets, but rather at places where information might be swept up if it is thought useful in the future.

Now this is particularly interesting, since the Netherlands has been a staunch ally of the USA ever since World War II ended - there's a reason that NATO headquarters is in the Hague rather than in Strasbourg.  The fact that the Dutch are publishing this sort of story says that patience in the US Government's mania for world wide spying is wearing thin, even among our closest allies.

Given that the NSA's massive monitoring program hasn't identified a single terrorist plot, is there any reason not to do a diplomatic cost/benefit analysis on the entire Agency, and shut down the parts that cost us more than they're worth?  Wouldn't that be some actual, you know, Smart Diplomacy?

And the same goes for the FBI.

4 comments:

chiefjaybob said...

Ah, yes. The Smart Diplomacy we were promised. I shall lie back, and think of England (or Holland).

Comrade Misfit said...

"NSA- Turning Allies into Adversaries."

TinCan Assassin said...

I got your Danegeld RIGHT HERE!

Borepatch said...

TCA, heh.