http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2013/09/nsa-router-hacking/
By Kim Zetter
Threat Level
Wired.com
09.04.13
The NSA runs a massive, full-time hacking operation targeting foreign systems,
the latest leaks from Edward Snowden show. But unlike conventional
cybercriminals, the agency is less interested in hacking PCs and Macs. Instead,
America’s spooks have their eyes on the internet routers and switches that form
the basic infrastructure of the net, and are largely overlooked as security
vulnerabilities.
Under a $652-million program codenamed “Genie,” U.S. intel agencies have hacked
into foreign computers and networks to monitor communications crossing them and
to establish control over them, according to a secret black budget document
leaked to the Washington Post. U.S. intelligence agencies conducted 231
offensive cyber operations in 2011 to penetrate the computer networks of
targets abroad.
This included not only installing covert “implants” in foreign desktop
computers but also on routers and firewalls — tens of thousands of machines
every year in all. According to the Post, the government planned to expand the
program to cover millions of additional foreign machines in the future and
preferred hacking routers to individual PCs because it gave agencies access to
data from entire networks of computers instead of just individual machines.
Most of the hacks targeted the systems and communications of top adversaries
like China, Russia, Iran and North Korea and included activities around nuclear
proliferation.
[...]
--
Find the best InfoSec talent without breaking your
recruiting budget! Post a Job, $99 for 31 days.
Hot InfoSec Jobs - http://www.hotinfosecjobs.com/
