By Robert Laurie ——Bio and Archives--October 31, 2013
American Politics, News | CFP Comments | Reader Friendly | Subscribe | Email Us
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.Unlike the NSA's telephone metadata collection scheme, it appears this goes further than knowing "who's talking to whom" as it involves actual collection, scanning, and cataloging of message content.
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.
The operation to infiltrate data links exploits a fundamental weakness in systems architecture. To guard against data loss and system slowdowns, Google and Yahoo maintain fortress-like data centers across four continents and connect them with thousands of miles of fiber-optic cable. These globe-spanning networks, representing billions of dollars of investment, are known as “clouds” because data moves seamlessly around them. In order for the data centers to operate effectively, they synchronize high volumes of information about account holders. Yahoo’s internal network, for example, sometimes transmits entire e-mail archives — years of messages and attachments — from one data center to another. Tapping the Google and Yahoo clouds allows the NSA to intercept communications in real time and to take “a retrospective look at target activity,” according to one internal NSA document.If you're wondering why these companies aren't encrypting their data, well, they are - to an extent. Once the data is transmitted from data center to data center it's relatively exposed - something both Google and Yahoo are scurrying to change. For now, though, that's exactly where they're weakest, and it's where the NSA has chosen to strike.
For the MUSCULAR project, the GCHQ directs all intake into a “buffer” that can hold three to five days of traffic before recycling storage space. From the buffer, custom-built NSA tools unpack and decode the special data formats that the two companies use inside their clouds. Then the data is sent through a series of filters to “select” information the NSA wants and “defeat” what it does not.So far, the NSA is refusing to comment on the new allegations. Google and Yahoo have both expressed "concern" while trumpeting the encryption that they've allegedly worked so hard to put in place. That’s all well and good, but apparently it’s not enough. For the moment it’s looking like the NSA wiretapping scandal goes much further than has been previously reported. We're sure President Obama has been completely unaware and is only now learning of this "by wathcing the news reports, just like all of you."
Support Canada Free Press
View Comments
Robert Laurie’s column is distributed by HermanCain.com, which can be found at HermanCain.com
Be sure to “like” Robert Laurie over on Facebook and follow him on Twitter. You’ll be glad you did.