Written by: NiRA
In our lives one day or the other we all must have thought about how NSA got a huge extent of its Surveillance operation throughout the globe, which one can measure from the number of secret documents which were discharged by the former NSA contractor named Edward Snowden.
This abyss boundary of NSA’s operation did not reached by its agents sitting in the NSA headquarter in the United States, but by its secret agents which are working in foreign companies which are based in countries like China, Germany and South Korea to penetrate and compromise foreign networks and devices, according to documents found by The Intercept.
NSA SEIZING FOREIGN NETWORKS AND DATA CENTRES
The newest document from the Snowden’s desk discussions regarding a program named physical subversion, in which NSA’s secret workers were penetrating foreign networks to obtain delicate data and access to systems in the global communications industry and even some of the American firms.
The document explains the details concerning numerous field activities comprising computer network attacks. Information which is held between the NSA’s purported code secrets in a system code which is named Sentry Eagle. This document’s date is 2004, although there is no reason to believe the fact that NSA has brought change in its behaviour since then.
Earlier documents which were mainly fixated on U.S. companies delivering the agency a vast number of customer data which included phone records and email traffic and also exposed NSA’s operations to hack into other systems or to function with private corporations in an attempt to deteriorate their own encryption systems, but the latest report indicates that the agency might be implanting workers into foreign as well as local, commercial entities. But, it is blurred whether these commercial entities are American or foreign or both.
REVELATION OF VARIOUS PROGRAMS
According to the newest document, NSA explains 6 different programs under its core secrets, all of them are classified under the Sentry Eagle and some of which are on-going as of year 2012. These programs are made of the following:-
- Sentry Hawk – involves cooperation between the NSA as well as foreign and local companies in order to exploit computer networks.
- Sentry Falcon – includes the defence of computer networks.
- Sentry Osprey – involves the NSA cooperating with the CIA, FBI and Pentagon to hire human agents that can help give the agency access to networks.
- Sentry Raven – describes the NSA’s negotiations with American companies to weaken their encryption in order to give the agency easier access.
- Sentry Condor – includes offensive network attacks that can destroy or weaken computer systems.
- Sentry Owl – involves the NSA working with foreign companies to make their products susceptible to NSA data gathering.
The document clearly states that any revelation of the secrets may lead to exceptionally grave damage to US national security and should not be performed without the permission from a senior intelligence official.
One of the essential programs in Sentry Eagle under the codename Sentry Osprey is HUMINT, a human intelligence advantage that has the ability to conduct Signals intelligence operations (SIGINT), which includes the seizure of communications and electronic signals. Both foreign as well as local companies could be aimed.
This program is marked as TAREX which, according to a 2012 classification guide, conducts worldwide clandestine Signals Intelligence (SIGINT) close-access operations and overt and clandestine Human Intelligence (HUMINT) operations. The program apparently has an existence in South Korea, Germany, and China, with a local presence in Georgia, Hawaii, and Texas.
NSA DECLINED TO COMMENT
For its part, NSA declined to clarify details to The Intercept. A statement is release saying:-
“It should come as no surprise that NSA conducts targeted operations to counter increasingly agile adversaries.”
At the same time NSA stated:-
“It takes into account the globalization of trade, investment and information flows, and the commitment to an open, interoperable, and secure global Internet.”
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Source: http://thehackernews.com/2014/10/core-secrets-nsa-used-undercover-agents.html
