14 DAY TRIAL // We already know that the NSA and its British partners from the GCHQ are busy bees in spying on as many people as possible. It now seems, however, that aside from all the mass surveillance programs they have at their disposal they’ve also managed to wiggle their way into the internal networks of German telecom companies.
Der Spiegel reports that the two agencies are working together on a program called “Treasure Map” which is used to get near real-time visualization of the global Internet. The data comes from Edward Snowden’s leaked NSA documents.
The NSA and the GCHQ are apparently able to eavesdrop on companies such as Deutsche Telekom, Netcologne, Stellar, IABG, and Cetel.
Unlike what its name might inspire in some people, the program is not fun at all; at the very least not for Internet users around the world. In fact, it can be used to map the Internet, and not just the large traffic channels, such as the telecommunications cables. Instead, it seeks to identify the devices across which data flows.
The end game is to make sure that all devices that are connected to the Internet, be them computers, tablets or smartphones, are visible to NSA’s greedy eye. This is what makes the whole program an actual treasure map with millions of active Internet users.
In case anyone was thinking that perhaps that’s not the purpose of the program, the file gives analysts clear instructions to “map the entire Internet – Any device, anywhere, all the time.” This is perhaps the most telling program revealed so far to illustrate the NSA’s largest goal – to have control over everything Internet-related.
The program allows the agencies to create an interactive map of the global Internet in near real-time. Employees from all Five Eyes intelligence agencies are part of the efforts. Der Spiegel likens it with a Google Earth for global data traffic, which seems quite fitting.
Treasure Map is a strategic program
Treasure Map doesn’t just keep track of the devices connected to the Internet, but it can also be used to run attacks on computers and to exploit networks. Its existence was previously reported on last year, but its full implications weren’t clear at the time.
In Germany, Treasure Map looks into the local cable and satellite networks. Here, there are two “Autonomous Systems” marked with red to signify an increased interest – one belongs to Deutsche Telekom AG and one to Netcologne.
While the latter has some 400,000 customers, Deutsche Telekom, which is owned in part by the German state, is part of the so-called Tier 1 providers. In Germany alone, the company serves 60 million customers. On a global level, however, T-Mobile is much bigger and has over 230 million subscribers.
Given all the help the NSA has, Treasure Map is probably even more extensive and covers many more networks, and therefore, more users.
The documents indicate that the NSA and its partner agencies can monitor the networks of these companies and the data travelling through their networks, including the end devices of their customers, effectively reducing everyone’s privacy to zero.
Der Spiegel shared some of the information about the NSA’s program with both Deutsche Telekom and Netcologne, giving them both a chance to look into the security breaches. Both companies have reportedly launched intensive investigations, but failed to find any suspicious mechanism or data streams leaving the network.