The fact that the NSA denied hacking into Microsoft doesn't really go a long way

Nov 27, 2013 09:17 GMT  ·  By

Microsoft has reportedly joined the ever-growing list of companies that are scheduling to upgrade their encryption setting to block out the NSA, but the intelligence agency negates the Redmond company was a target.

“NSA’s focus is on targeting the communications of valid foreign intelligence targets, not on collecting and exploiting a class of communications or services that would sweep up communications that are not of bona fide foreign intelligence interest to the U.S. government,” was the agency’s official reaction to questions about Microsoft, the Washington Post reports.

Of course, the statement is negated by various documents leaked so far that indicate the intelligence agency actually infiltrated the link between data centers of companies such as Yahoo and Google, effectively gaining access to unencrypted data. Since the data centers are extremely difficult to be infiltrated by the NSA, suspicion lies on the fiber optic cable company that handles the two Internet giants.

Furthermore, another document that points out to the fact that the NSA actually has eyes and ears inside Microsoft’s system is a 2009 email from a senior manager of the MUSCULAR project discussing a tool called “Monkey Puzzle.” This one is capable of searching across certain listen realms, including “Google, Yahoo and Microsoft’s Passport service.

Microsoft has been criticized for not expanding its encryptions, like other companies have done, including Google and Twitter, in order to fend off the National Security Agency and anyone else who might try to get access to their network.

For instance, Google has announced earlier this month that they have upgraded the SSL certificates to 2048 bit RSA, wrapping up the process earlier then they have hoped, especially since their target was the end of the year. The company’s decision to switch to the new encryption settings came before the NSA scandal, but it was probably sped up because of the various revelations published in the media.