14 DAY TRIAL // Newly leaked documents indicate that the NSA placed malware on some 50,000 computer networks in the entire world.
The information comes from Dutch media outlet NRC who quotes Snowden files. The document in question is actually a management presentation slide dated in 2012 that shows a world map full of “Computer Network Exploitation” (CNE) access points.
CNE is the secret infiltration of computer systems that is achieved with the help of malware. For example, what happened with the Belgium telco Belgacom is one example, as previous leaks indicate.
The file show that the computer attacks coming from the NSA are done by a special department called TAO, short for Tailored Access Operations, formed of some 1,000 hackers.
This type of operations are particularly important for the NSA, since they are quite easy to execute and relatively inexpensive. Considering the intelligence agency gets the chance to obtain information that they would otherwise not get access to, it seems there’s only good things for the NSA in the entire deal.
The NSA presentation indicates CNE operations everywhere in the world, including in Brazil where there’s been a huge scandal over previous reports that indicated the Americans were spying on the country’s presidents, both former and present, on local companies and the oil company, Petrobras, something the authorities classified as economic espionage.
Other regional spots where the NSA managed to infiltrate networks are situated in cities such as Geneva, Athens, Rome, Caracas, Bogota, Mexico City, Havana, Bangkok, New Delhi, Sofia, Paris, Berlin, Frankfurt, Milan and many more that got redacted from the file. The NSA was asked for a response on the information, but refused to comment, choosing to redirect the media to the US government, effectively playing a game of responsibility tag.
Even if they did decide to comment on the situation, they probably would have used the default answer they’ve given so far that usually sums up to “we’ll do what we have to because we can”.