Our NSA (National
Security Agency) does not have an open and transparent history.
The NSA
was created in secret in 1952 not by Congress, but by a pen stroke of Harry
Truman, see photo above, in a 7-page document that remained classified for years. Even its
name was undisclosed.
And it stayed hidden
until finally, in 1971, NSA analyst Perry Fellwock blew the whistle on NSA
and their secret program Echelon with its vast information
gathering technology even back then. This led to the Church Committee
hearings and some legislation. Obviously, it wasn’t enough…..Over the recent years, 6
additional patriotic whistleblowers have come forward at great sacrifice and
risk to themselves. These include Bill Binney, Edward Snowden, Russ Tice,
Mark Kline, Thomas Tamm, and Thomas Drake. Click the above link for more
information on these men.
NSA TODAY
Bigger: See Wired article from 2012. Written by
James Bamford, this is an article that spares no one’s feelings in laying out
what the NSA is, and does.
Bigger and Nastier: “The NSA is more interested in the
so-called invisible web, also known as the deep web or deepnet – data beyond
the reach of the public. This includes password-protected data, US and
foreign government communications, and noncommercial file-sharing between
trusted peers. ‘The deep web contains government reports, databases,
and other sources of information of high value to DOD and the intelligence
community according to a 2010 report.’”
But don’t feel left out. Oh No! They already have every
keystroke, every conversation, every search (Yes, even those),
every credit card purchase, every check, every rewards card purchase, every
toll gate, every bill, every-everything about you. What do you
think is filling up those monstrous computers?
The next two blue links
are enlightening wakeup articles
from Bruce Schneier.
Bruce is a go-to guy on internet security, and author of Data and Goliath, about
collecting your data and controlling the world. It was a best selling
Amazon Book of the Year in 2015.
The Utah Data
Center came online in 2014, at a cost of somewhere between one and
one-half to two billion dollars for one million-plus square feet. Details
are not readily shared with the public. 100,000 square feet will
be for data storage. The remaining 900,000 square feet will be
for administration and “technical support”
What, exactly,
does that mean in spook-talk? Data Mining? More secret
programs? Mind Control with DOD’s DARPA (Defense Advanced Research
Projects Agency)?
It is widely believed
that a large emphasis at the Utah Data Center will be put on
cracking encryption. You know, breaking the private codes.
This will done in conjunction with their Oakridge, Tennessee facility which is
developing the world’s fastest supercomputer.
Currently encryption
done at 128 bits, and 192 bits, and most securely at 256 bits has them at
bay. But between the vast storage data in Utah and the lightning speed in
Tennessee they think they may be able to crack them. Would it be
okay to pray for a large magnetic storm?
And they’re building another data
center in Fort Meade, Maryland that will be two and one-half times
bigger. Just what are they going to do there?
Here Are A Handful of
the Programs…
Here
Are A Handful of the Programs…
ECHELON
Reportedly developed to monitor
Russia and the Eastern Bloc, this one has been around since about 1966.
“ECHELON was part of an umbrella program codenamed FROSTING, which was
established by the NSA in 1966 to collect and process data from communications satellites. FROSTING had two
sub-programs:[25]
- TRANSIENT:
for intercepting Soviet satellite transmissions,
and
- ECHELON:
for intercepting Intelsat satellite
transmissions.”
This 1999
article brought more information to the fore.
Echelon’s focus is international intercepts. Shrouded in
secrecy, Echelon uses large golf-ball shaped facilities (called
radomes short for radar-domes which protect delicate radar equipment from the
climate) on earth, plus satellites, to listen in on, intercept, and copy any
and all transmissions. Echelon includes sites in England (RAF Menwith
Hill), Australia, New Zealand, Japan, and others. The satellites used are
said to be stationary.
Several years back (+/- the
year2000) there was an international flapdoodle as allegations flew that U.S.
companies were getting insider information based on
intercepted commercial bids, and using them to secure lucrative
contracts. This, while believed to be true, was of course denied.
CARNIVORE
This was an earlier FBI e-mail wiretap system that
could be set up by the FBI, in conjunction with your ISP (Internet Service
Provider), and operated remotely. It was newer technology in the
year 2000, unregulated (if you just forget the Fourth Amendment), and extremely
prone to overreach without oversight.
Carnivore was eventually renamed
DCS1000 but that didn’t improve its murky reputation nor lessen the FBI’s
secrecy surrounding the eavesdropping which many believed expanded to
intercepting and copying all e-mails. Are we singing Kumbaya yet?
SNIFFER
This isn’t a
program but rather a means of creating surveillance. Routers direct
internet traffic noting destinations of the “packets” that go through the
router. “Packets” are parts of transmissions that have been reduced into
smaller parts to make transmissions flow more efficiently.
A sniffer is an intercept monitor
that can copy either limited, specific targets, or copy any and every thing
that passes by.
HEARTBLEED
This was
created through a flaw discovered in an update to the the SSL
program. SSL stands for Secure Sockets Layer. SSL has
been supplanted by TLS, Transport Layer Security. However,
SSL is still widely used.
The SSL is used for security in
roughly 2/3 of “secure” Net transactions (think credit card purchases on
secured sites). This Heartbleed bug allowed the NSA easier access to our
passwords and personal information. The NSA claims it did not know of the
Heartbleed bug until 2014. Sources say the NSA knew at least two years
earlier. You think?
TRAPWIRE
TrapWire
is a shadowy overreaching program originated by a corporation known as Abraxos,
in Virginia. Abraxos is filled with ex-CIA, ex-Intelligence Community
spooks. Its purpose is to film people and study patterns of behavior, pre-assign likely guilt, and
call it terror assessment. Talk about guilty until proven
innocent!
In 2005 an Abraxos officer stated
that TrapWire could “collect information about people and vehicles that is more
accurate than facial recognition, draw patterns, and do threat assessments
of areas that may be under observation from terrorists.” TrapWire was
exposed in 2012 when a researcher went through a series of hacked e-mails from
a company known as Stratfor, aka “Shadow CIA”.
It was revealed at that time that
literally millions of cameras – public,
red light, traffic, bridge, commercial, casino, U.S. and international — were digitally recording
people, encrypting the data, and sending it to places unknown for storage using
face recognition to note “persons of interest”
in “Suspicious Activity Surveillance”.
TEMPEST
This is a
program used by the government to reconstruct information data streams by
capturing electromagnetic radiation from computers, printers, handheld devices and converting these radiations
into their original transmissions. Unbelievable. Just
unbelievable.
PRISM
Created under
George W Bush, PRISM is a secretive tool that co-opts the biggest internet
service providers. These include Google,
Microsoft, Apple, Yahoo, Skype (now owned by Microsoft), Facebook,
PalTalk, AOL, and YouTube. It is believed information can be
gleaned from the user equipment via back doors; from the internet backbone; or
from the corporate cloud database. This may
include general data and/or verbatim copies.
Prism
slides released by Edward Snowden. How we learned of PRISM.
2013 – 2014 leaks from Edward Snowden.
The leaks he provided.
XKEYSTROKE
This is a very developed query
program. You can search, or query, using MAC or Microsoft Office or pdf or phone number or
e-mail address or type of document or extensions, and more. This
classified link is from 2008 – “The Unofficial XKS User Guide”.
TEMPORA
This is a British
program shared with NSA that collects – for later sorting –
internet information carried on fiber optic cables. It went operational
in 2011. The cable companies are aware. I believe all the major
cables are now tapped. This matters because much of the international
cable traffic flows through the US.
SPECIAL
SOURCE OPERATIONS (of the NSA)
This is the
division of NSA that collects data from telephone
and cable sources. These commercial companies have been coerced
(?) into being willing partners with NSA. It is loudly rumored that these
companies – your carriers – are well paid
for their cooperation. (Are you surprised?)
Back in the day that worked just
fine; they cooperated and no one was the wiser. Then in 2013 Edward
Snowden happened and the big Verizon-NSA link became front page
news. Well, it’s still going on and all the major companies are in on it.
“SSO also cooperates with private telecommunication providers under the
following four programs, which are collectively referred to as
– BLARNEY (collection under FISA
authority, since 1978)
– FAIRVIEW (cooperation with AT&T, since 1985)
– STORMBREW (cooperation with Verizon, since 2001)
– OAKSTAR (cooperation with 7 other telecoms, since 2004)”
– FAIRVIEW (cooperation with AT&T, since 1985)
– STORMBREW (cooperation with Verizon, since 2001)
– OAKSTAR (cooperation with 7 other telecoms, since 2004)”
“The
government does not need to know more about what we are doing. We need to know
more about what the government is doing. We need to turn the cameras on the
police and on the government, not the other way around.” Ron Paul
June 14, 2013
Computer keyboards, laptop
emanations, cell phone monitoring activation, SIM card readers, tracking
voiceprints, cell phone monitoring. And new ways everyday! But,
HEY, what's to worry!
AMAZON
This is a company, not a
protocol...... And yes, I do mean that Amazon.
Their TV Fire Sticks and their
Echo products all record your conversations, but I don't know whose
cloud these are stored on Maybe they're shared – could be a profit-making
tool for Amazon.
Your kindle reading is also recorded including anything you
highlight. Same goes for monitoring what movies you stream.
Alexa? ALEXA!! She's voice activated, you know. And she has
one big, bounteous memory! (Isn't this great?)
APPLE
Leading
the pack is Siri. Click on
her name to find out what makes her work. Want to get some more warm
and fuzzy feelings? Her basic structure was formulated over at
DARPA. Whoopee! [DoD's Defense Advanced Research Project
Agency]
CELL PHONES
Okay
we've already said all of this is recorded. And it is: your calls, your
texts, your alarms, your web browsing...
ALL of it is recorded. Forever. To be data mined at any time.
And just when you think it could not get
any worse -- it has. Now law enforcement at all levels has
the STINGRAY (which they are not supposed to talk about). This is
the IMSI-catcher device (also known as cell site simulator, triggerfish,
wolfpack, gossamer, and swampbox) that tricks your cell phone into thinking
that the Stingray is a cell tower. And when your phone automatically connects to it, well,
then the officers can monitor you
directly, in real time, without a warrant. (Really!?)
This
device is reportedly able to BLOCK communications, also. They could have quite a heyday play day with that,
huh?
The
government – or your friendly carrier – can activate your phone's microphone
(whether the phone is on or off) This
turns it into a roving bug that records voices anywhere near the phone.
Your
phone needs to be on but even if you disable the GPS function, it can be activated
remotely without telling you so. They can track you. Of
course they can also triangulate your position by measuring the intensity of
your connections to nearby cell towers.
The solution to microphones and GPS
is simple. REMOVE THE BATTERY. Oh, but I know – you might miss Aunt
Julia's wedding pictures! And how would you open the garage door...?
It
gets down to, which price do you want to pay? Convenience?
Or Security? (And there isn't much of that
left, is there?)
Note:
“They” say they don't have Hillary Clinton's e-mails? “They” say
they can't identify the black-masked, black-attired Soros protesters? “They” say
there's nothing they can do to combat the anti-trump protesters and the college
rioters? “They” say Trump had Russian interchanges
during the campaign? “They” say Trump wasn't bugged at
Trump Towers?
Hell,
Trump’s bugged everywhere he goes! And all of us, too! THEY HAVE
ALL OF THIS INFORMATION. IT'S WHAT THEY DO! And
we're paying for it!
And while we're on this topic, don't ever forget their expertise
in voice simulation. If you hear a quote that doesn't sound right,
verify that it was actually spoken by the person it is attributed to. (What
a shame to need conversations like these...)
SAMSUNG, AND SMART APPLIANCES
Samsung's
Smart TVs are voice activated... They listen to everything you
say... They record everything you say... How many other voice activated thingies do you
own? They are always on, you know, just listening for your
voice..
Your
SMART appliances are government spying devices
sure as you can say “Fourth Amendment”. And don't forget those dangerous
(on several levels) SMART meters courtesy
of your power company. SMART
appliances talk to SMART meters but you already know that, yes?
And
SMART meters talk to other SMART meters.
They convey user information. And at some not too distant time the
government will begin talking back to the SMART meters about what is allowed to
be turned on in your place, what isn't, and when.
(It is called C-O-N-T-R-O-L. SMART,
huh?)
And just coming online is the “Internet
of Things”. Everything on the internet is captured, copied, stored.
Your
SMART phone can do almost anything anymore: Start the coffee, open the
garage door, monitor the nursery, set the alarm – all shared in real
time with the government. This is all done through the internet. It is ALL copied and stored indefinitely.
CARS
There's
that pesky little black box in many cars that records such things as speed,
braking, destination routes, mileage.
Your GPS records your locations. Automatic toll and parking tags record
dates and times, and often photos. Cameras take pictures of your license
plate. And your voice activated Amazon Alexa-for-Androids in your
car? Need you ask?
This link takes you to a retail site where YOU can
buy all sorts of fancy toys to monitor, spy, surveil, whomever
and/or whatever you want. So – not only do you have your overreaching
Fourth-Amendment-be-damned government going bonkers, but you can do
it yourself !!
OR
You may find
that your spouse, your kids, your boss, your best friend, your worst enemy, or
anybody-anybody beat you to it and is tracking you, your
location, your phone calls and texts, your GPS – all in real time. Warm and cozy, huh? (Santa might
not be the only one checking it twice.)
Not
to be outdone, your government has a purchasing catalog, too! It's
classified and it's called the NSA ANT catalog. It runs 50
pages. You see, the National Security Agency (NSA) has a division called
Tailored Access Operations (TAO) (tasked with hacking computers) that can order
cyber snooping materials from the AdvancedNetwork Technology
Division.
Republicans on the House
Science Committee forwarded legislation that would vastly increase the
operational responsibilities of the government’s cybersecurity standards agency
and task that body with auditing other federal agencies’ cyber protections.
The NIST
Cybersecurity Framework, Assessment and Auditing Act passed
the committee, 19-14, over the objection of most Democrats who argued the bill was outside the
expertise of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, which views
its role as advisory and does not customarily conduct audits.
The bill would direct NIST
to complete an initial assessment of federal agencies’ cyber preparedness
within six months and a full audit of their cyber protections within two years
with priority given to the most at-risk agencies.
The bill would also direct
the White House’s Office of Science and Technology Policy to produce annual
reports on the adoption of NIST’s 2014 Cybersecurity Framework, both in
government and in the private sector, and direct NIST to create more extensive
adoption measurements.
Those requirements jibe
with some elements of a draft
cybersecurity executive order that would mandate that agencies
adopt the NIST framework. It would conflict, however, with NIST’s general
policy that the framework should be an advisory
document for agencies and companies rather than a strict set of
rules.
The NIST mandate is
included in the most recent leaked draft of President Donald Trump’s executive
order, which has not been formally introduced.
Committee Chairman Lamar
Smith, R-Texas, acknowledged the bill would vastly expand NIST’s
responsibilities during a conversation with reporters after the markup but said
that expansion is necessary to ensure agencies’ cyber protections.
“There’s a temptation, I
realize, with a lot of government agencies not to want additional
responsibility,” he said. “In this case, they are the most qualified, they have
the expertise and, in the end, I think that they will want to help prevent
cyberattacks.”
The committee’s ranking
member Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson, D-Texas, however, argued the bill would
transfer to NIST responsibilities that should belong to the Office of
Management and Budget and the Homeland Security Department, which is primarily
responsible for civilian government’s operational cybersecurity.
“NIST is not an auditing agency,” she said in an opening
statement. “They have no such history, experience or capacity.”
Smith has spoken to
possible Senate sponsors and to Republican leadership about the bill, he told
reporters, but could not predict when it might reach the House floor or be
introduced in the upper chamber.
He predicted the bill would
“enjoy widespread member and public support” and “help stop cybersecurity
attacks.”
Johnson also criticized the
bill for not providing additional funding for the audits, noting that Federal
Information Security Management Act audits can cost in the millions of dollars.
She called the bill a “massive underfunded mandate levied on an agency that is already
overtasked.”
FISMA audits are currently
the major annual cyber reviews agencies’ undergo and are conducted by agency
inspectors general.
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