NSA infiltrates links to Yahoo, Google data centers worldwide, Snowden documents

[Wilikon]

This is the new normal...


http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/nsa-infiltrates-links-to-yahoo-google-data-centers-worldwide-snowden-documents-say/2013/10/30/e51d661e-4166-11e3-8b74-d89d714ca4dd_print.html


According to a top secret accounting dated Jan. 9, 2013, NSA’s acquisitions directorate sends millions of records every day from Yahoo and Google internal networks to data warehouses at the agency’s Fort Meade headquarters. In the preceding 30 days, the report said, field collectors had processed and sent back 181,280,466 new records — ranging from “metadata,” which would indicate who sent or received e-mails and when, to content such as text, audio and video.

The NSA’s principal tool to exploit the data links is a project called MUSCULAR, operated jointly with the agency’s British counterpart, GCHQ. From undisclosed interception points, the NSA and GCHQ are copying entire data flows across fiber-optic cables that carry information between the data centers of the Silicon Valley giants…

In an NSA presentation slide on “Google Cloud Exploitation,” … a sketch shows where the “Public Internet” meets the internal “Google Cloud” where their data resides. In hand-printed letters, the drawing notes that encryption is “added and removed here!” The artist adds a smiley face, a cheeky celebration of victory over Google security.

Two engineers with close ties to Google exploded in profanity when they saw the drawing. “I hope you publish this,” one of them said…

The Google and Yahoo operations call attention to an asymmetry in U.S. surveillance law: While Congress has lifted some restrictions on NSA domestic surveillance on the grounds that purely foreign communications sometimes pass over U.S. switches and cables, it has not added restrictions overseas, where American communications or data stores now cross over foreign switches.

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[cryptasm]

Google/Yahoo's faux outrage is amusing, according to the Guardian they are both "furious" at the data intercepts 

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/oct/30/google-reports-nsa-secretly-intercepts-data-links

Glad this is getting more media coverage, the more it tarnishes their reputation the better.

[pedrog]

Google made serious efforts for transparency.

[Spendulus]

Google made serious efforts for transparency.

...of our data and conversations to the Obama administration, yes...

...which top execs at Google helped get relected.....

[pedrog]

Google made serious efforts for transparency.

...of our data and conversations to the Obama administration, yes...

...which top execs at Google helped get relected.....

Haha, well done sir!

But I was talking about this: http://www.google.com/transparencyreport/

Google fought in court because they could not disclose some requests.

[Wipeout2097]

I don't trust Google, neither I believe there's a bright future for what is based on trust.  However Google and other U.S. internet corporations are being hit on their bottom line due to this scandal, so I see why they may be "concerned" about our privacy.

[Twilight_Sparkle]

Just another day indeed. Every day I wonder why I have yet to seriously considered privatizing my internet browsing. It is gonna bite me in the ass one of these days  .

[Wilikon]

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/11/wapo-to-govt-our-story-on-nsa-google-spying-was-true-heres-proof/



WaPo to gov’t: Our story on NSA Google spying was true, here’s proof


The Washington Post reported the latest revelations about NSA surveillance last week, writing that the spy agency intercepted data from Google and Yahoo's private "clouds" by tapping into fiber optic cables overseas. And despite NSA pushback stating otherwise, the Post is standing by its story.

In light of the data tapping piece, the government's response took a different tack than what's been seen over the past several months. It didn't say the disclosures were damaging to national security or irresponsible; they just flat-out said the stories were wrong.

Asked about reports that the NSA "broke into Google and Yahoo databases worldwide," Gen. Keith Alexander said flatly "that's never happened." He continued, "I can tell you factually we do not have access to Google servers, Yahoo servers."

That was talking around the story a bit since The Post story didn't actually say that the NSA accessed servers directly. Instead, it said that the organization worked together with GCHQ, the British intelligence agency, to get Google and Yahoo data from the connections between the Internet companies' data centers.

Last Thursday, the NSA put out a statement that "recent press articles" had "misstated facts, mischaracterized NSA’s activities, and drawn erroneous inferences." It said overseas activity was within the law and focused on "targets of foreign intelligence value."

So today, the Post published a follow-up article on its Switch blog that is essentially an extended riposte to suggestions that it was wrong. It also published additional slides that show the NSA knew about internal Google data structures. The Post consulted with experts who had "detailed knowledge of the internal corporate networks of each company." And those experts confirmed that NSA slides like the one above "included samples of data structures and formats that never travel unencrypted on the public Internet."