• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

NSA collects data from undersea cables

Status
Not open for further replies.
C

ComputerMKII

Banned
Hi NSA!

The US National Security Agency (NSA) has collected sensitive data on key undersea optical fiber telecommunications cables between Europe, North Africa and Asia.

Citing classified documents labeled “top secret” and “not for foreigners”, German news magazine Der Spiegel reported on Sunday that NSA spied on the so-called the South East Asia-Middle East-West Europe 4 also known as “Sea-Me-We 4 undersea cable system”.

The German magazine said NSA specialists had hacked an internal website belonging to the operator consortium to mine documents about technical infrastructure including circuit mapping and network management information. “More operations are planned in the future to collect more information about this and other cable systems.” Spiegel quoted the NSA documents, dating from February, as saying.

According to the website of the project (http://www.seamewe4.com) “the South East Asia-Middle East-West Europe 4 project is a next generation submarine cable system linking South East Asia to Europe via the Indian Sub-Continent and Middle East. The project aims to take these regions to the forefront of global communication by significantly increasing the bandwidth and global connectivity of users along its route between Singapore and France.”

Spiegel reports that “Among the companies that hold ownership stakes in it are France Telecom, now known as Orange and still partly government-owned, and Telecom Italia Sparkle.”

In March 2004, a consortium of 16 international telecommunications companies signed construction and maintenance agreements for the new optical fiber submarine cable system linking South East Asia to Europe via the Indian Sub-Continent and Middle East with Terminal Stations in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Italy, Tunisia, Algeria and France. The contract is being awarded jointly to Alcatel Submarine Networks, France and Fujitsu Ltd., Japan and the estimated project cost is of the order of $500 million.

The submarine cable system is approximately 20,000km long. It consists of the main backbone across the Eastern and Western worlds plus the extension links in various countries. The project seeks to support telephone, internet, multimedia and various broadband data applications.

It seems the method was employed by the NSA’s elite hacking unit (TAO) via incorporating routers and servers from non-NSA networks into its covert network by infecting these networks with "implants" that then allow the government hackers to control the computers remotely.

The document leaked by Der Spiegel proudly says that, on Feb. 13, 2013, TAO “successfully collected network management information for the SEA-Me-We Undersea Cable Systems (SMW-4).” With the help of a “website masquerade operation,” the agency managed to “gain access to the consortium's management website and collected Layer 2 network information that shows the circuit mapping for significant portions of the network.”

The US government claims that its spying operations that are taking place both at home and abroad are vital for fighting terrorism.

A federal judge ruled Friday that the NSA’s bulk collection of millions of Americans' telephone and Internet records is legal. US District Judge William Pauley also concluded that the operation is an important part of America’s effort to combat the threat of terrorism.

NSA spies on millions of telephone and Internet records that are routed through American networks on daily basis. According to some estimates, NSA spies on 380 million cellphones in the US.

Prior to Pauley’s ruling, another US District Court Judge, Richard Leon, had described the massive NSA spying program “Almost Orwellian”.

“I cannot imagine a more 'indiscriminate' and 'arbitrary invasion' than this systematic and high-tech collection and retention of personal data on virtually every single citizen,” Judge Leon wrote.
Click to expand...
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2013/12/29/342624/nsa-collects-data-from-undersea-cables/
 
C

Crayons

Banned
B-but I have nothing to hide! They're only after terrorists! Angela Merkel poses a threat to the our national security! They just want us to be safe!

TERRORISTS!!
 
M

marrec

Banned
I'm honestly shocked that the NSA is spying on people.

Deplorable.

Do you think like, in 1950 people were shocked and disturbed at the revelation of phones in shoes?
 
B

Busty

Banned
"Under the sea, under the sea,
There'll be no accusations,
Just friendly crustaceans
Under the sea."
 
C

CF_Fighter

Member
All these articles with TAO posted over the last couple days makes them seem more and more like some group out of a near-future sci-fi novel. Sadly though, they exist and are going to continue to get away with it. While the American public at large won't care because it doesn't affect them in their day-to-day. Also, the news is coming out of Germany so the media won't pick-up on it and if they do it will be relegated to the end of broadcast.
 
G

Gallbaro

Banned
Meh.

Old school. I knew a seal who tapped a 500plus pair copper cable back in the 70s. Pain in the ass to splice on land...

Also as it was back then there are probably two other taps on the same cable from other countries and at least you know it is not domestic.
 
Aesius

Aesius

Member
Ep9BeachWire.jpg
 
empty vessel

empty vessel

Member
9/11 was the best thing that ever happened to US intelligence agencies. Whatever else one thinks about what they do, the terrorism shtick is ridiculous.

Zomba13 said:
List of things the NSA aren't doing:
Stopping terrorism by spying on people
Click to expand...

Ha. So much truth in this.
 
C

Cipherr

Member
The fuck... when does this shit end. A whole lot of people need to be arrested or something. This is some bullshit.
 
Angry Fork

Angry Fork

Member
"This isn't new" means absolutely nothing about anything. I don't know why people keep saying this line, what is it supposed to mean? Are you saying bad things done long enough aren't bad anymore? If you support the NSA just say that instead of cowardly tap dancing.

marrec said:
I'm honestly shocked that the NSA is spying on people.

Deplorable.
Click to expand...

It's so cool and edgy to go against the grain.
 
E

Elfforkusu

Member
The problem with this isn't that it's wrong or immoral or something, it's that it completely crushes the argument that the USA should be given any sort of authority over the internet and internet standards.

For one example, DNS is going to have to go away. It's untenable now that we know what the NSA is doing.

It also means that US technology companies can no longer be trusted by overseas ... anything. Which will be wonderful for the US economy as all those contracts dry up over the next half decade.
 
N

Night Hunter

Banned
Elfforkusu said:
It also means that US technology companies can no longer be trusted by overseas ... anything. Which will be wonderful for the US economy as all those contracts dry up over the next half decade.
Click to expand...

Well, that's based upon the assumption that they actually give a shit in the first place.
 
J

JesseEwiak

Member
Elfforkusu said:
The problem with this isn't that it's wrong or immoral or something, it's that it completely crushes the argument that the USA should be given any sort of authority over the internet and internet standards.

For one example, DNS is going to have to go away. It's untenable now that we know what the NSA is doing.

It also means that US technology companies can no longer be trusted by overseas ... anything. Which will be wonderful for the US economy as all those contracts dry up over the next half decade.
Click to expand...

The only difference between the NSA and the Japanese spy agency or the French spy agency is more people are looking into the NSA and it has a bigger budget. Any tech company in any Western country is going to be open to influence from its spying agency - because that's the job of said spying agency.
 
M

marrec

Banned
Angry Fork said:
And of course the methods used are irrelevant.
Click to expand...

Depending on the method I will either be for, against, or ambivalent.

This method leaves me ambivalent.

In fact, the only thing that has really gotten my hackles raised out of this whole storm in a teacup is the needless collection of millions of phone calls and emails but even then we already knew about that.

So no, the methods that a spy uses to spy on someone is kind of irrelevant because if you accept that spies exist then you have to accept that spying is inherently an immoral thing. So when people get outraged over the NSA doing this or that what they're REALLY outraged at is the fact that spies exist.

What would you have the NSA do? Moral spying?

Angry Fork said:
Should your local police department be allowed to record everything you do for any reason they claim?
Click to expand...

The last time I check it wasn't my local polices job to spy on people.

I'll check again tomorrow though.
 
S

Sibylus

Banned
Angry Fork

Angry Fork

Member
marrec said:
Depending on the method I will either be for, against, or ambivalent.

This method leaves me ambivalent.

In fact, the only thing that has really gotten my hackles raised out of this whole storm in a teacup is the needless collection of millions of phone calls and emails but even then we already knew about that.

So no, the methods that a spy uses to spy on someone is kind of irrelevant because if you accept that spies exist then you have to accept that spying is inherently an immoral thing. So when people get outraged over the NSA doing this or that what they're REALLY outraged at is the fact that spies exist.

What would you have the NSA do? Moral spying?
Click to expand...

Spying outside of war undermines democracy, freedom of association, state sovereignty, so I don't think the NSA or CIA should exist. I am willing to risk whatever bad things may happen because of that, but I don't believe the government's claim to such large scale threats. They have been organs of an intensely immoral, anti-progressive, anti-human rights state for decades.

I believe this system is being used in order to stifle dissent from all potentially radical movements, not just what the gov says is angry religious brown people. It is to create a system similar enough to traditional totalitarian governments that any threat to the status quo can be extinguished before it begins through the same methods Hoover/FBI used.

The last time I check it wasn't my local polices job to spy on people.

I'll check again tomorrow though.
Click to expand...

That is part of their job in a post 9/11 world, especially in large cities (whether or not it's necessary is irrelevant, 9/11 will be mentioned to justify anything). Either way a person's job description has nothing to do with whether or not he should be able to record everything you do. At that point the job itself should be questioned.
 
M

marrec

Banned
Angry Fork said:
Spying outside of war undermines democracy, freedom of association, state sovereignty, so I don't think the NSA or CIA should exist. I am willing to risk whatever bad things may happen because of that, but I don't believe the government's claim to such large scale threats. They have been organs of an intensely immoral, anti-progressive, anti-human rights state for decades.

I believe this system is being used in order to stifle dissent from all potentially radical movements, not just what the gov says is angry religious brown people. It is to create a system similar enough to traditional totalitarian governments that any threat to the status quo can be extinguished before it begins through the same methods Hoover/FBI used.
Click to expand...

If that's your stance I can understand it, I just don't agree with it. I think the CIA/NSA are necessary in our world only because every other government thinks it's equivalent of the CIA/NSA are necessary.
 
S

Sibylus

Banned
Angry Fork, you're kinda positing that the US shoot itself in the foot to achieve, at best, moral superiority. Moral superiority is piss-poor defense when you blind yourself to the intentions of actors all the way up to state-level entities, and it'd be folly to rely on your present-day military advantage alone to overcome that blindness in the eventuality of war.
 
K

Kinyou

Member
When will the NSA learn that all this spying and data gathering wont fill their empty heart.

Bo said:
Angry Fork, you're kinda positing that the US shoot itself in the foot to achieve, at best, moral superiority. Moral superiority is piss-poor defense when you blind yourself to the intentions of actors all the way up to state-level entities, and it'd be folly to rely on your present-day military advantage alone to overcome that blindness in the eventuality of war.
Click to expand...
You really think that spying on millions of germans is crucial to defend the US? Some form of intelligence service might be necessary for a nation like the US, but the NSA is way out of line and their focus seems to lie on different things than national security.
 
G

glaringradio

Member
NSA are spying on your showering habits. When you're having a shower and the water suddenly goes from hot to cold, that's the NSA fetching their data
 
A

Abounder

Banned
Spying is the world's second oldest profession. The oldest one, prostitution, is also still around despite being "illegal" or immoral/amoral/help me out grammarGAF

And somewhere a point was made in my post, I think
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

PS Blog |OT| Your full guide to the all-new PlayStation Plus
|OT| Hype 2 3 4
155
16K
Nitty_Grimes replied
WSJ:Russian Hackers Stole NSA Data on U.S. Cyber Defense
2
56
11K
Mr Swine replied
  • Locked
Hillary Clinton retweets Slate voter guide calling her most corrupt candidate
3
4K
ModBot replied
  • Locked
Pentagon buried internal study that exposed massive amounts of adminstrative waste
19
5K
rambis replied
  • Locked
AT&T Is Spying on Americans for Profit, New Documents Reveal.
2
75
9K
DrFunk replied
Top Bottom