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Snowden Claims That NSA Collaborated With Israel To Write Stuxnet Virus
andrewa writes "In an interview with Der Spiegel Snowden claims that the NSA, amongst other things, collaborated with Israel to write the Stuxnet virus. Not that this is news, as it has been suspected that it was a collaborative effort for some time. When asked about active major programs and how international partners help, Snowden says: 'The partners in the "Five Eyes" (behind which are hidden the secret services of the Americans, the British, the Australians, New Zealanders and Canadians -- ed.) sometimes go even further than the NSA people themselves. Take the Tempora program of the British intelligence GCHQ for instance. Tempora is the first "I save everything" approach ("Full take") in the intelligence world. It sucks in all data, no matter what it is, and which rights are violated by it. This buffered storage allows for subsequent monitoring; not a single bit escapes. Right now, the system is capable of saving three days’ worth of traffic, but that will be optimized. Three days may perhaps not sound like a lot, but it's not just about connection metadata. "Full take" means that the system saves everything. If you send a data packet and if makes its way through the UK, we will get it. If you download anything, and the server is in the UK, then we get it. And if the data about your sick daughter is processed through a London call center, then ... Oh, I think you have understood.'"
No, Russia said they would give him asylum as long as he stopped leaking information. He withdrew his asylum request to Russia in response and so has opted not to take them up their offer in exchange to stop leaking, which is why he's continued leaking.
Russia views him as not their problem whilst he continues to not enter the country officially and if he continues to opt not to officially enter Russia then they seem to let him do whatever he feels the need to do.
He is so desperate to stay in the news that I think he is resorted to parroting what was speculated in the news almost a year ago.
According to the article, the interview was conducted anonymously through a third party before Snowden publicly revealed himself.
I won't speculate on your motives for making such easily disproven claim about Snowden's character.
When information is power, privacy is freedom.
My government has been doing what the UK does for many years already, we learnt this weekend. I'm Dutch, BTW.
-- Cheers!
Information about stuxnet was already leaked to the press and allegedly by retired Marine General James Cartwright. I think it is more likely he is just repeating what he heard speculated in the news already and tried to use his former position to give himself credibility. According to the Der Spiegel article they were trying to evaluate if he was truly a NSA whistleblower, so they submitted some questions to him via email and received his prepared answers. He had plenty of time to look for information already in the news.
The paper must not have thought much about the credibility of their informant since they chose not to run the story until after Snowden made himself known to the public in Hong Kong.
These comments are my own and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of my employer or colleagues...
He means he's full of shit, that's what he means.
Having got security clearance and worked on defence projects for a third party contractor in the past myself I can say with absolute certainty that compartmentalisation in the security services isn't as good as his computer games, movies and spy thrillers would have him believe.
When Chinese hackers stole a load of information about the F-35 it wasn't because they pulled off some righteous hack that required skill, perseverance and a high degree of technical knowledge, but precisely because protection of such sensitive data is sloppier than the good practice guidelines claim it should be.
Mossad is the sort of organization that will drive up next to you on a motorcycle in traffic and throw a magnetic grenade on your car.
That's a bit crude by their standards. Mossad took out one terrorist by indirectly giving him a cell phone with a bomb, that could be dentonated remotely: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yahya_Ayyash
Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
You'd think it would be enough, but it isn't. Government security is such that you'd have to prove that he actually would have had access to that material. Even cleared people with admin access don't get admin access to *everything*. A real NSA employee or contractor could tell you a lot about what they are working on, but should not be able to tell you anything at all about any other program.
So, for his claims to be completely credible, you can't just assume that being in the NSA is good enough. You need to prove he worked on those specific projects, or alternately, that the security he worked under was lax. And assuming it was lax is not a simple assertion, there are whole teams of people who have nothing better to do than audit that security, and others that audit the auditors.
Re 'citations please' by the AC:
Costas Tsalikidis, the Greek telco whistleblower was found hanged in his apartment.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kostas_Tsalikidis
Exposed tapping mobile phones of members of the cabinet, the Prime Minister, and hundreds of others via foreign “interception” software.
Adamo Bove head of security at Telecom Italia who exposed the CIA renditions via cell phone log in court ‘fell’ to his death.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SISMI-Telecom_scandal
Illegal domestic surveillance program on politicians, magistrates.
Deborah Jeane Palfrey, the D.C. Madam was found hanged.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deborah_Jeane_Palfrey
David Kelly and the prewar intelligence Britain had on Iraq.
Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
You forgot nigh-immunity to FOIA quests.
My personal experience is that people take security clearances very seriously. My father was a civilian engineer for a contractor that built the Trident submarines, which carry Polaris nuclear missiles. He designed some of the systems.
I just told you everything I ever learned about what my father did for a living.