“In
March 2011, two weeks before the Western intervention in Libya, a
secret message was delivered to the National Security Agency. An
intelligence unit within the U.S. military’s Africa Command needed
help to hack into Libya’s cellphone networks and monitor text
messages.”
“For
the NSA, the task was easy. The agency had already obtained technical
information about the cellphone carriers’ internal systems by
spying on documents sent among company employees, and these details
would provide the perfect blueprint to help the military break into
the networks.”
“The
NSA’s assistance in the Libya operation, however, was not an
isolated case. It was part of a much larger surveillance
program—global in its scope and ramifications—targeted not just
at hostile countries.”
“According
to documents contained in the archive of material provided to The
Intercept by whistleblower Edward Snowden, the NSA has spied on
hundreds of companies and organizations internationally, including in
countries closely allied to the United States, in an effort to find
security weaknesses in cellphone technology that it can exploit for
surveillance.”
“The
documents also reveal how the NSA plans to secretly introduce new
flaws into communication systems so that they can be tapped into—a
controversial tactic that security experts say could be exposing the
general population to criminal hackers.”
“Codenamed
AURORAGOLD, the covert operation has monitored the content of
messages sent and received by more than 1,200 email accounts
associated with major cellphone network operators, intercepting
confidential company planning papers that help the NSA hack into
phone networks.”
“The
AURORAGOLD operation is carried out by specialist NSA surveillance
units whose existence has not been publicly disclosed: the
Wireless Portfolio Management Office, which defines and carries out
the NSA’s strategy for exploiting wireless communications, and the
Target Technology Trends Center, which monitors the development of
new communication technology to ensure that the NSA isn’t
blindsided by innovations that could evade its surveillance reach.
The center’s logo is a picture of the Earth overshadowed by a large
telescope; its motto is 'Predict – Plan – Prevent.'”
“The
NSA documents reveal that, as of May 2012, the agency had collected
technical information on about 70 percent of cellphone networks
worldwide—701 of an estimated 985—and was maintaining a list of
1,201 email 'selectors' used to intercept internal company details
from employees. ('Selector' is an agency term for a unique identifier
like an email address or phone number.) From November 2011 to April
2012, between 363 and 1,354 selectors were 'tasked' by the NSA for
surveillance each month as part of AURORAGOLD, according to the
documents. The secret operation appears to have been active since at
least 2010.”
In
details:
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