Posted on 03/12/2014 8:02:40 PM PDT by Altariel
This just in from the Edward Snowden vault of government secrets: The National Security Agency is breaking into "potentially millions of computers worldwide" and infecting them with malware "implants" as part of an effort that is increasingly relying on automated systems and not human oversight, according to a by First Look Media report published Wednesday.
And the NSA is pretending to be Facebook to get the job done.
"In some cases the NSA has masqueraded as a fake Facebook server, using the social-media site as a launching pad to infect a target's computer and exfiltrate files from a hard drive," First Look reported on Glenn Greenwald's Intercept channel, citing a classified slide presentation from 2009. "In others, it has sent out spam emails laced with the malware, which can be tailored to covertly record audio from a computer's microphone and take snapshots with its webcam. The hacking systems have also enabled the NSA to launch cyberattacks by corrupting and disrupting file downloads or denying access to websites."
As part of the "industrial-scale exploitation," the agency is leveraging Facebook's global appeal to trick targets into logging in to a doppelganger version of the site, a technique dubbed "Quantumhand."
"If this report is accurate, the NSA is acting like a spambot," said Harley Geiger, senior counsel at the Center for Democracy & Technology. "The use of malware implants should be targeted against specific threats in tightly controlled situations, but this kind of mass automated surveillance would put countless Internet users at risk."
First Look's report details how the NSA was able to trick target computers by transmitting "malicious data packets" that disguise it as the real Facebook, a process illustrated in this top-secret animation:
Facebook denied any knowledge of the NSA's malware infection program, and said its site is now protected against such attacks. But the company suggested that, if the allegations are true, other social networks could also have been compromised.
"We have no evidence of this alleged activity," a Facebook spokesman told National Journal. "In any case, this method of network level disruption does not work for traffic carried over HTTPS, which Facebook finished integrating by default last year."
"If government agencies indeed have privileged access to network service providers, any site running only HTTP could conceivably have its traffic misdirected."
In response to the story, the NSA in a statement said, "Signals intelligence shall be collected exclusively where there is a foreign intelligence or counterintelligence purpose."
The Buck stops at Obama’s Desk.
Impeach Hussein Obama in 2014, PERIOD.
So glad I ditched that crap. I wonder if they are hacking FR. After all, we are hated by the regime.
Our government is unfixable. The vision of the free citizen is over here.
FB is both ruthlessly efficient and insidious. NSA would do well to use or emulate FB.
If it’s connected to the Internet, assume it is monitored.
Never had facebook or the other one OR skype.
Never say anything on the internet or in email that you wouldn’t say outloud in a public place.
The internet was given to us for a reason...
Truth is, Facebook really IS the NSA, always has been. What better way to fill up those dossiers?
They probably monitor and track FR.
So....FUBO, FUBO and NSA Sux. Come get me you homo bass turds.
Yeah, anything you say can and will be used against you by the government but there comes a point when you just don’t care anymore. I will not be afraid of them.
I second that message. They can send their gaystapo cronies to meet the 2nd Amendment if they want to arrest for ‘hate speech’
“I wonder if they are hacking FR.”
They are in everything.
They will be outnumbered. If they think we don’t remember history it is their undoing. They probably imagine us lined up against a ditch, the way they have always done. People won’t comply with the gun registration/turn-in/bans and the tyrants may find themselves lined up instead, as “Social Equality”. After all, social justice would demand 150 million of them next time.
F-— Farcebook!
Reason number 316 why:
- Facebook is evil
- You should have NOTHING to do with FB or any other social media web site
Saw a bumper sticker recently, “You DO NOT need to tell Facebook you went to the gym this morning.”
I don’t do facebook privately, and would only sign up if the needs of my job demanded it. I made sure not to sign up in any way, not even to leave commentary. The reason I was so against it has to do with what one of the Facebook founders (Zuckerman, I think) said a few years ago; Privacy is ‘old fashioned thinking’. He continued; “If you need complete privacy, you’re probably doing something you shouldn’t be doing.” I thought that was one of the most arrogant and disconnected remarks I ever heard a service provider make. That’s all Facebook is, a service to facilitate communication. I understand it does a lot of good too, but we must make out own decisions.
CIA's 'Facebook' Program Dramatically Cut Agency's Costs
Its a shame when your country starts mirroring its own satire.
Time to pull the plug.
It looks like maybe NO’bama had pis*sed off THE BEAR one time too many - remember when Russia said they’d give Snowden asylmn on the condition he be quiet and not be using his sancuary to continue leaking?
Looks like he’s go the okay -
this just in - AND the UCLA is also working against the NS of A - things about to rachet up?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPrDqoaHHSY
pre-targeting people - coming soon -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTWOL_U-OMg
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