MISSEDLINK

_________________________________________

 

• "the message arrived on the "clean machine" - a MacBook Air - loaded only with a sophisticated encryption package !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• ""change in plans" - the contact said - "be in the lobby of the hotel by 1 pm"  !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

 

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "bring a book and wait for - ES - to find you !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

 

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "the portrait of him that emerges - of a solemn - sincere idealist !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "who - step by step over a period of years - grew disillusioned !"

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "this drove him to leak hundreds of thousands - of top-secret documents !"

 

 

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "he grew up in Maryland - his father was a Coast Guard officer !"

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "many in his family had worked - for the federal government - in one way or another !"

 

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "he liked books - especially Greek mythology !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "reading about myths - played an important role growing up - for him !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

 

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "providing him with a framework for confronting challenges - including moral questions !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

 

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "he liked computers - and worked for a tech company !"

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "he landed a job as a security guard - at a top-secret facility !"

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "that required him - to get a high-level security clearance !"

 

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "he passed a polygraph exam - and the stringent background check !"

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "and he was offered a position at the CIA - where he was assigned to the global communications division !"

 

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "as the junior man - on the top computer team !"

 

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "he was sent to the CIA’s secret school - for technology specialists !"

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "he was there for some six months - studied and trained full-time !"

 

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "after that he was sent to Geneva - Switzerland !"

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "where the CIA was seeking information - about the banking industry !"

 

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "he was assigned to the United Nations - he was given a diplomatic passport !"

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "a four-bedroom apartment near the lake - and a nice cover assignment !"

 

 

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "the goal of this CIA group was - recruited human sources !"

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "operatives would get targets drunk - landed in jail - and then bailed them out !"

 

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "putted the target - in their debt !"

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "they did risky things - that had impacts on the person !"

 

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "it took a couple of years - for this his level of disillusionment - to set in !"

 

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "by that time he had shifted - from the CIA - to the NSA !"

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "a job as a technical expert - in Japan - with Dell - a contractor !"

 

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "( outsourced contractors had been - Booz Allen Hamilton - and Dell ! )"

 

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "he was learning about the - NSA’s capabilities !"

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "mapped the movement of a person - in the city - by monitoring the MAC address !"

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "an identifier emitted by a cell phone - computer - and other electronic device !"

 

 

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "then he returned for a year - as technical expert !"

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "he was Dell’s lead technologist - worked with the CIA’s account !"

 

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "he had sat with the CIO of the CIA - the CTO of the CIA - the chiefs of the technical branches !"

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "they would tell him their hardest technology problems - and it was his job to come up with a way - to fix them !"

 

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "then he moved again for Dell - this time to a massive bunker in Hawaii !"

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "where he was the lead technologist - for the information-sharing office !"

 

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "his concerns over the oversight of the NSA - grew with each passing day !"

 

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "the NSA passed raw private communications - content as well as metadata - to Israeli intelligence !"

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "usually information like this would be "minimized" - a process where names !"

 

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "and personally identifiable data - were removed !"

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "but in this case - there was virtually no protection - even the communications of US people !"

 

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "he had no problem accessing - downloading - and extracting all the confidential information !"

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "he liked - except for the very highest level of classified documents !"

 

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "details about virtually all - of the NSA programs - were accessible to anyone !"

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "employee - or contractor - private - or general - who had top-secret clearance !"

 

 

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "but his access while in Hawaii - went well beyond even this !"

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "as top technologist - he had access to almost everything !"

 

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "he landed a job as an infrastructure analyst - with another contractor - Booz Allen !"

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "the role gave him rare dual-hat authority - covered both domestic - and foreign capabilities !"

 

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "( cyber-tools around the world - gigabytes of foreign secrets ! )"

 

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "one day an intelligence officer told him that TAO - a division of NSA hackers !"

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "had attempted to remotely install an exploit - in one of the core routers !"

 

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "at a major Internet service provider - in Syria !"

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "this would have given access to email - and other Internet traffic - from much of the country !"

 

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "but something went wrong - and the router was bricked instead - rendered totally inoperable !"

 

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "the failure of this router caused Syria - to suddenly lose all connection - to the Internet !"

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "although the public did not know - the background !"

 

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "the last straw for him - was a secret program he discovered !"

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "the highly secret data storage facility - in Bluffdale - Utah ! - ( potentially a yottabyte )"

 

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "a 1 million-square-foot building - that was known within - as the mission data repository !"

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "the original name was massive data repository - but staffers thought it sounded too creepy !"

 

 

 

 

 

• "phone calls - faxes - emails - computer-to-computer data transfers - and text messages !"

 

 

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "he was even more disturbed to discover - a new project in the works !"

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "the project - codenamed "MonsterMind"  !"

 

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "would automate the process - of hunting for the beginnings - of a foreign cyberattack !"

 

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "instead of simply detecting a malware - at the point of entry !"

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• ""MonsterMind" would automatically act - with no human involvement !"

 

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "and that was a problem - because the initial attack !"

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "was often routed through computers - in innocent third countries !"

 

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "and privacy was a concern - of this project ! - ( the kind that system worked )"

 

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "he sat at his desk in the "tunnel" - surrounded by computer screens !"

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "and read a news story - that convinced him - that the time had come to act !"

 

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "director of national intelligence James Clapper - told the Senate committee !"

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "that the NSA did - "not wittingly" - collect information on millions of US-Americans !"

 

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "they had a little bit of rule-breaking - a little bit of dishonesty !"

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "a little bit of disservice to the public interest - on a slippery slope !"

 

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "you cannot - justify it !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "you must not get - used to it !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

 

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "you must not see it - as normal !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "( Clapper saw it as his job - as something completely ordinary - for him ! )"

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "two months later - he boarded a flight to Hong Kong - with a pocket full of thumb drives !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Internet - Heise online: LINK ¤ HEISE ONLINE

_________________________________________

 

• "the NSA - and the GCHQ - had an Internet program !"

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "the documents described a program - called "HACIENDA"  !"

 

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "since the early days of TCP - port scanning had been used - to locate vulnerabilities in a system !"

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "the "HACIENDA" program - described port scans !"

 

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "a "standard tool" - against an entire nation !"

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "twenty-seven countries - were listed as targets !"

 

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "the program presentation came with - a promotional offer !"

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "readers desired that - would simply need to send an e-mail !"

 

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "the documents did not spell out details - for a review process - or the need to justify such an action !"

 

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "services included public services - such as "HTTP" - and "FTP"  !"

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "as well as common administrative protocols - such as "SSH" - Secure SHell protocol !"

 

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "and "SNMP" - Simple Network Management Protocol - used for network administration !"

 

 

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "this would be scans - of critical infrastructure !"

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "and systems - used for network operations !"

 

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "the top secret documents described - infection !"

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "reconnaissance - command and control - and exfiltration !"

 

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "the covert infrastructure included so-called - operational relay boxes - ORBs !"

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "hided the location - when actions against a target !"

 

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "going over the port scan results - by "HACIENDA" - was considered too laborous !"

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "so an "OLYMPIA" system was programmed - that should automate the process !"

 

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "the goal was - vulnerable devices in a subnet - should be located in five minutes !"

 

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________

• "and a "MUGSHOT" program - should integrate results !"

 

 

_________________________________________

• "from active scans - as well as passive monitoring !"