The latest NSA revelations reveal deeper and more insidious intrusions into our lives, and show deeper collusion between the government and private enterprise. If you really, really think this is OK because you have "nothing to hide," you better be darn sure that's the case.
Back Doors
It is now apparent that the NSA co-opted nearly every piece of electronics present in our lives. Der Spiegel reports that the NSA has found ways to slither through most firewalls and work around most security systems. This dirty work is done primarily via malware, computer code created by the NSA that is implanted in the targeted device to do the NSA's bidding. This malware most commonly creates a "back door," a new, hidden pathway into some computer system.
NSA Lies about BIOS Attacks
We also learn that the NSA, which only recently used the American TV news magazine 60 Minutes to warn about a new form of Chinese cyberattack, actually employs the very same technique. NSA Information Assurance Director Debora Plunkett spoke in near-apocalyptic terms:
[She] revealed the discovery by one of her 3,000 analysts of a secret computer weapon that could destroy any computer it infected. She would not name its origin, but 60 Minutes has learned it was engineered in China. The NSA allowed Plunkett to talk about it for the first time in detail. She says it was called the Bios Plot, for the foundational component, the Bios, that all computers have that performs basic functions like turning on the operating system and activating the hardware. The attack on the Bios would have been disguised as a request for a software update. If the user clicked on it, the virus would turn their computer into "a brick," says Plunkett.
"One of our analysts actually saw that the nation-state had the intention to develop and deliver, to actually use this capability to destroy computers," Plunkett says. If successful, says Plunket, "Think about the impact of that across the entire globe. It could literally take down the U.S. economy." The NSA quietly worked with computer manufacturers to eliminate this vulnerability.
However, quite apart from "quietly working with computer manufacturers to eliminate" a BIOS attack, the NSA quietly worked to exploit BIOS attacks of its own making. Der Spiegel tells us:
[NSA] developers have a clear preference for planting their malicious code in so-called BIOS, software located on a computer's motherboard that is the first thing to load when a computer is turned on. This has a number of valuable advantages: an infected PC or server appears to be functioning normally, so the infection remains invisible to virus protection and other security programs. And even if the hard drive of an infected computer has been completely erased and a new operating system is installed, the malware can continue to function and ensures that new spyware can once again be loaded onto what is presumed to be a clean computer. The developers call this "Persistence" and believe this approach has provided them with the possibility of permanent access.
A Look How Deep the Rabbit Hole Goes
In a way, however, the most insidious technique the NSA employs is in a way one of the simplest. Der Spiegel reveals that the NSA intercepts computers and other electronic hardware being shipped to a "target," alters them, and then sends them on to be received and used by the target, albeit with the NSA software and/or hardware installed.
Let's break this down.
- Once the NSA identifies a "target" (whom we'll refer here to as "You"), the NSA needs to know when You order a new laptop they want to intercept. That means the NSA has to spy on Your credit card, Your online activities and/or probe into the ordering systems of places like Amazon, Dell and the like. Perhaps there is a sort of "no fly" list distributed to manufacturers that requires notification to the NSA when someone like You on it buys something. Or all of the above.
Private Enterprise as Tools of the National Security State
After a lot of denying and prevaricating, the telecommunications companies of the United States admitted they work hand-in-glove with the NSA under a secret portion of the Patriot Act to collect and transfer data about You. Verizon also hacked its own wireless modems to allow the FBI easier access to You. Microsoft collaborated to allow Your communications to be intercepted, including helping the NSA circumvent the company's own encryption. Microsoft also worked with the NSA to grant easier access to its cloud storage service SkyDrive with Your documents. One technology expert speculates the NSA embeds back doors inside chips produced by U.S. corporations Intel and AMD. There are many more examples of corporate cooperation, as well as corporations appearing to "not know" about NSA intrusions deep into their systems and products.
What we have here is an example of the depths into which You have fallen. The government has recruited private industry into its national security state, down to the level of the Fedex guy delivering packages to Your door in time for Christmas. For those of You who still foolishly insist that such spying is OK because they "have nothing to hide," I sure as heck hope You are right, because whatever You do have now belongs to Them.
We would know none/none of this had it not been for Edward Snowden.