14 DAY TRIAL // The NSA has the ability to spy on people even if they’re not connected to the Internet, a new report indicates.
According to the New York Times, it’s not just software that they use to spy on individuals, but hardware too. It has already been known that the NSA sometimes intercepts deliveries and replaces hardware with their own editions, but this time, it’s about a small radio device.
The NSA has implanted software in nearly 100,000 computers around the world, which allows them to keep an eye on those machines and which can be used to launch cyberattacks. This wasn’t enough for the agency, since not all the time is spent online.
The intelligence agency has been using a technique over the past years, relying on a covert channel of radio waves that can be transmitted from tiny circuit boards and USB cards inserted in computers.
This allows the NSA to get access to computers that targets have proofed against spying and cyberattacks.
The agency considers this effort to be one of “active defense” against foreign attacks, rather than an offensive tool. When the tables turn, however, US officials have taken a harsh position against attackers, including from China.
The program, codenamed “Quantum,” has been used to target units of the Chinese army, Russian military networks, systems used by Mexican police and drug cartels, trade institutions inside the European Union, as well as other targets in Saudi Arabia, India and Pakistan.
“What’s new here is the scale and the sophistication of the intelligence agency’s ability to get into computers and networks to which no one has ever had access before. Some of these capabilities have been around for a while, but the combination of learning how to penetrate systems to insert software and learning how to do that using radio frequencies has given the U.S. a window it’s never had before,” James Andrew Lewis, cybersecurity expert, told the New York Times.
“Quantum” doesn’t seem to have been used on targets inside the United States.
The NSA took a defensive stance regarding its program. “N.S.A.'s activities are focused and specifically deployed against — and only against — valid foreign intelligence targets in response to intelligence requirements,” said an agency spokeswoman.
“We do not use foreign intelligence capabilities to steal the trade secrets of foreign companies on behalf of — or give intelligence we collect to — U.S. companies to enhance their international competitiveness or increase their bottom line,” the statement continues.