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NYT: NSA Put 100,000 Radio Pathway "Backdoors" In PCs
retroworks writes "The New York Times has an interesting story on how NSA put transmitters into the USB input devices of PCs, allowing computers unplugged from the Internet to still be monitored, via radio, from up to 8 miles away. The article mainly reports NSA's use of the technology to monitor Chinese military, and minor headline reads 'No Domestic Use Seen.' The source of the data was evidently the leak from Edward J. Snowden."
According to TFA, a tiny transceiver can be built into the plastic plug base of a USB cord. Of course, one has not been spotted in the wild, but it sounds theoretically possible.
The AntiJoey
Well, if a computer is poorly shielded that might not be all that hard. Handheld 5W ham radios can go much more than that distance on 2m, and lower frequencies can go much further. When the weather allows it, a 5W 2m transmission can go dozens or even a hundred miles, and in especially unusual weather conditions a friend of mine in California managed to talk with someone in Hawaii, once.
So, while inside a case it might not go 20 miles to cover a whole city, I could see being able to reach 8 miles, depending on how intelligently the system was designed in order to reduce the chances of being discovered. The other downside is that strong radio transmissions can interfere with things including speakers, which might make them obvious if not handled correctly.
Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
of 100k devices in the field isn't supported by the article.
They infected 100k machines with software, most of them remotely.
(In that case, I consider the claimed number to be rather low even.)
It's right there in the first two paragraphs of TFA:
The National Security Agency has implanted software in nearly 100,000 computers around the world that allows the United States to conduct surveillance on those machines and can also create a digital highway for launching cyberattacks.
While most of the software is inserted by gaining access to computer networks, the N.S.A. has increasingly made use of a secret technology that enables it to enter and alter data in computers even if they are not connected to the Internet
The device as a layer of physical hardware in a USB device has been posted as a pic as part of the COTTONMOUTH I and II effort.
http://www.dailytech.com/Tax+and+Spy+How+the+NSA+Can+Hack+Any+American+Stores+Data+15+Years/article34010.htm (scroll down for the slide)
What it sends out to?
The usual new spy "rocks" or some other "network"
http://rt.com/usa/spy-rocks-lockheed-usa-771/
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/jan/19/fake-rock-plot-spy-russians
Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
This devices are listed in the leaked "NSA Toolbox Catalog" document, that was reported in this Spiegel article:
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/catalog-reveals-nsa-has-back-doors-for-numerous-devices-a-940994.html
Some pictures:
Cottonmouth-I, USB spying device
http://www.spiegel.de/static/happ/netzwelt/2014/na/v1/pub/img/USB/S3223_COTTONMOUTH-I.jpg
Cottonmouth-II, USB spying device
http://www.spiegel.de/static/happ/netzwelt/2014/na/v1/pub/img/USB/S3223_COTTONMOUTH-II.jpg
Cottonmouth-III, USB spying device
http://www.spiegel.de/static/happ/netzwelt/2014/na/v1/pub/img/USB/S3223_COTTONMOUTH-III.jpg
Firewalk, ethernet spying device
http://www.spiegel.de/static/happ/netzwelt/2014/na/v1/pub/img/USB/S3223_FIREWALK.jpg
Ragemaster, monitor cable spying device
http://www.spiegel.de/static/happ/netzwelt/2014/na/v1/pub/img/Bildschirm/S3224_RAGEMASTER.jpg
There's many more in that cataloge, including software and hardware tools and devices.
News flash: Europeans spy on American companies.
Except for ending slavery, the Nazis, communism, & securing American independence, war has never solved anything.
1. Tiny transceivers are built into USB plugs and inserted into target computers. Small circuit boards may be placed in the computers themselves.
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/a-941262.html
Pics of the devices from the NSA catalog.
I don't read your sig. Why are you reading mine?
It is not a transmitter. It is a radar reflector. You illuminate them with a strong radar, and detect the signal they create in turn. That allows them to be small and have long range.
I got a laugh this morning watching NBC's morning show. Some reporter was talking about how some of these devices were embedded in USB cables. "Like these," he said, as he held up a RJ-45 ethernet cable. :-)
I got a laugh this morning reading /.. Some nerd was talking about how some reporter couldn't tell an ethernet cable from a USB cable, and mistakenly called it "RJ-45".
It's ok. You're just not nerd enough to know: RJ-45 is for phone. It is a similar (and physically compatible) form factor to the 8P8C plug commonly used for ethernet cabling.
For further reading:
RJ-45
8P8C
/dev/random