The Latest in IT Security

In yet another disclosure from Edward Snowdens pile of leaked NSA documents, The Washington Post has revealed that the US surveillance agency may be using Googles advertising cookies to track and pinpoint targets for government hacking and location-tracking. According to Snowdens leaked presentation slides, both the NSA and the British equivalent, the GCHQ, are using a Google-specific ad cookie (know as PREF) as a way of honing in on specific surveillance targets. While Googles cookie doesnt contain personal information like a name or email address, it does contain numeric codes that uniquely identify a users browser. That identifier reportedly helps the NSA and the GCHQ single out a specific machine and send out its software to hack Into the users computer.