xkeyscore
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NSA's hacking tool is apparently as easy to use as a Google search
It's been a couple of years since Edward Snowden and The Guardian introduced us to the NSA's spying tool called XKeyscore. Now, The Intercept has published new details about it from 48 documents Snowden provided, revealing that it's a lot more powerful than previously thought. Apparently, it's fed a constant flow of data from all over the world straight from fiber optic cables, can store content from three to five days and metadata for even longer (up to around 45 days). Based on these new documents, the publication has confirmed that the tool helped the agency look up other private info beyond emails and chats, including "pictures, documents, voice calls, webcam photos, web searches, advertising analytics traffic, social media traffic, botnet traffic, logged keystrokes, computer network exploitation (CNE) targeting, username and password pairs, file uploads to online services, Skype sessions and more." The NSA even tracked phone connections to Google Play and Samsung's App Store.
New Zealand used NSA data to spy on rival trade leader candidates
Want to understand why far-reaching, poorly scrutinized spying programs are dangerous? Here's why. The Intercept and the New Zealand Herald have obtained a document showing that New Zealand used the US National Security Agency's XKeyscore surveillance system to spy on other countries' candidates for the World Trade Organization's director general role. The 2013 snooping campaign searched for keywords in communications that referenced New Zealand's own candidate (Minister of Trade Tim Groser, above), the competition and the WTO itself. Any relevant results were passed on to a "trade team" within the country's surveillance agency, the Government Communications Security Bureau, which is rather alarming when the leadership run had nothing to do with national security.
If you've researched online privacy then the NSA may already be tracking you
When the Edward Snowden revelations began flowing (and flowing, and flowing), the first thing many people screamed was "get on Tor!" Unsurprisingly, an analysis of the NSA's XKeyscore system has revealed that simply visiting the website of the privacy service is enough to get you registered as an "extremist." A report by German television found that the NSA's packet-sniffing targets anyone interested in online privacy -- with those outside of the US, Canada, UK, Australia and New Zealand marked down for extra surveillance. If, however, you've ever searched for (privacy-focused operating system) Tails or even Linux Journal, wherever you are, you're still likely to wind up on the NSA's naughty list.
The Guardian: NSA's XKeyscore tool is its 'widest reaching' system for collecting online data
Edward Snowden has said that he still has more information about the NSA than what he's already leaked, and we're now getting a look at another big piece of that. According to a new set of documents provided to The Guardian, the NSA is using a tool called XKeyscore that is said to be its "widest reaching" system for collecting information from the internet -- one that lets it examine "nearly everything a typical user does on the internet," as one presentation slide explains. That apparently includes both metadata and the contents of emails, as well as social media activity, which can reportedly be accessed by NSA analysts without prior authorization; as The Guardian notes, a FISA warrant is required if the target of the surveillance is a US citizen, but not if a foreign target is communicating with an American. According to The Guardian, the amount of data collected is so large that content is only able to stored in the system for three to five days, or as little as 24 hours in some cases, while metadata is stored for 30 days. That's reportedly led the NSA to develop a multi-tiered system that lets it move what's described as "interesting" content to other databases where it can be stored for as much as five years. In a statement provided to The Guardian, the NSA says that "XKeyscore is used as a part of NSA's lawful foreign signals intelligence collection system," and that "allegations of widespread, unchecked analyst access to NSA collection data are simply not true. Access to XKeyscore, as well as all of NSA's analytic tools, is limited to only those personnel who require access for their assigned tasks." The agency further adds that "every search by an NSA analyst is fully auditable, to ensure that they are proper and within the law."
