The Latest in IT Security

Over the past months, leaked documents from the NSA, GCHQ, and other agencies have shed light on efforts to dramatically scale the process of putting malware on targets computers. At The Intercept, Glenn Greenwald and Ryan Gallagher have published more details about how these programs work, and what tools operatives use to compromise security — whether thats by hacking routers or impersonating Facebook. A program known as TURBINE, first revealed last year, is meant to dramatically speed the process: one document says it will allow the current implant network to scale to large size (millions of implants) by creating a system that does automated control implants by groups instead of individually. The group behind TURBINE, known as the NSAs Tailored Access Operations (TAO) division, gathers information on specific targets, but Greenwald and security experts worry that a large, automated system makes the surveillance process too painless and open to abuse. The scaling process, according to Greenwald, started in 2004, when the NSA operated only 100 to 150 software implants.