Did NSA plant spyware in computers shipped abroad?

[thai tech]

Did NSA plant spyware in computers shipped abroad?

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Did the National Security Agency plant spyware deep in the hard drives of thousands of computers used by foreign governments, banks and other targets under surveillance abroad?

A new report from Russian cybersecurity firm Kaspersky Lab said its researchers identified malicious programs or worms that infected computers in multiple countries. Targets appeared to be specifically selected and included military, Islamic activists, energy companies and other businesses, as well as government personnel. Without naming the United States as the source of the malware, the report said one of the programs has elements in common with the so-called Stuxnet computer virus that the New York Times and Washington Post have said were developed by the U.S. and Israeli governments to disrupt Iranian nuclear facilities.

The malware was not designed for financial gain but to collect information through “pure cyberespionage,” said Kaspersky’s Vitaly Kamluk.

NSA spokeswoman Vanee Vines declined comment, but cited a 2014 presidential directive that instructed U.S. intelligence agencies to respect Americans’ privacy while continuing to conduct overseas operations necessary to guard against terrorism or other threats.

Read more; http://tech.thaivisa.com/nsa-plant-spyware-computers-shipped-abroad/4933/

[Seastallion]

" NSA spokeswoman Vanee Vines declined comment, but cited a 2014 presidential directive that instructed U.S. intelligence agencies to respect Americans’ privacy while continuing to conduct overseas operations necessary to guard against terrorism or other threats."

In other words, "Yes".

There's no breach of an American's privacy when the machine being spied upon is not owned by an American.

[lust]

Anytime news is present as a question, it loses all credibility.

[Ulysses G.]

In other words, "Yes".

Good. Can't trust those foreigners.

[bkkjames]

they dont call it 'intel' for nothing lol

[willyumiii]

Smart move if they did so.

Something like a Trojan Horse?

Now, how many computers made in Asia are sold in the USA?

All of them?

Hmmm

[2fishin2]

Direct from USA from China....mmmmm

[Basil B]

This has been my theory for many years...

Whey do you think Microsoft have had such a big monopoly on operating systems, with so many security holes it should have been call Swiss Cheese, and my suspicion is that it was no accident they were there.

[manarak]

Story already running here:

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/801457-elite-hacking-organisation-uncovered-the-equation-group/

;-)

And I have to add that the AP article published in Thai Tech does not reflect the amplitude or sophistication of attacks!

The Ars Technica article details all that has been disclosed by Kaspersky, and if you got a tech background you will just be wowed, same as I was.

And it's not just about computers shipped abroad, targets within the US were attacked too.

I feel the Associated Press article delivers a much toned down version of the story.

The Ars Technica article is here:

http://arstechnica.com/security/2015/02/how-omnipotent-hackers-tied-to-the-nsa-hid-for-14-years-and-were-found-at-last/

(a little technical)

Edited February 18, 2015 by manarak

[TuskegeeBen]

_____________________________

Edited February 18, 2015 by TuskegeeBen

[TuskegeeBen]

" NSA spokeswoman Vanee Vines declined comment, but cited a 2014 presidential directive that instructed U.S. intelligence agencies to respect Americans’ privacy while continuing to conduct overseas operations necessary to guard against terrorism or other threats."

In other words, "Yes".

There's no breach of an American's privacy when the machine being spied upon is not owned by an American.

Get real! The NSA spies on U.S. citizens abroad (via the www.), with far more diligence, than they have ever visited upon Middle Eastern, Muslim (anti-American) operatives.

[TuskegeeBen]

they dont call it 'intel' for nothing lol

[englishoak]

So we can all sleep safely

[Publicus]

This has been my theory for many years...

Whey do you think Microsoft have had such a big monopoly on operating systems, with so many security holes it should have been call Swiss Cheese, and my suspicion is that it was no accident they were there.

Well said.

Even China has to use Microsoft and its Windows. The Chinese make their own junk computers with many different local Chinese browsers, but they have to use Microsoft. Windows has in fact been hassling China lately due to all the counterfeiting of it.

The CCP Boyz in Beijing have shut out Google and G-Mail, Yahoo Search, FB, Twitter and a long long list of browsers and websites from the political ones to the social, but they have to use Microsoft. China is anyway so internet blocked and shut off from the world it is now recognized globally as having an intranet instead of an internet. It only keeps getting worse.

NSA and the Pentagon Cyber Command have quietly and without fanfare shut down the whole of the China internet numerous times. The shutdowns have lasted from four to twelve hours. It's just to show they can do that and more, to the PRChinese military especially. The most recent internet only shutdown was last August and the time before that was last March. Neither government announced it of course. In the PRChina the government afterward always simply and briefly says a nearby offshore cable had ruptured, that the problem was not inside China.

Regularly shutting down the China intranet is also a message to Mr. Putin and his cyber capabilities such as in the OP. I don't have any knowledge or information about NSA or Pentagon 'training exercises' concerning Russian internet or cyberspace, but I wouldn't doubt it occurring there too. Just to keep 'em informed and advised. And awake nights also, same as the Boyz in Beijing.

Edited February 18, 2015 by Publicus