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NSA bugs exported US-made network equipment

13 May 2014, 10:02 -- The National Security Agency covertly installs back-door surveillance bugs into routers intended for foreign markets, according to the new book "No Place to Hide" penned by the journalist Glenn Greenwald.

Relying on previously unreleased and already disclosed documents, Greenwald, one of three recipients of the top-secret material on the NSA mass surveillance from the agency's former contractor Edward Snowden, shows that since at least 2010 the NSA has intercepted routers, servers and other network equipment being shipped overseas. The agency then implanted interception tools in the devices that granted it unlimited access to networks and communications. NSA then rewrapped the packages and restored factory seals sending them onto their original destination.

The devices later connect back to the NSA. 'In one recent case, after several months a beacon implanted through supply-chain interdiction called back to the NSA covert infrastructure. This call back provided us access to further exploit the device and survey the network,' says a 2010 report by the head of the NSA's Access and Target Development department.

These latest NSA-related revelations are especially striking considering that the United States government has been on a prolonged campaign against routers manufactured in Chine. For years it has warned that Chinese network equipment is a threat.

For instance, the US claims ZTE and Huawei, the top two Chinese telecommunications equipment companies, install spy hardware into the devices that could compromise security of American networks. In a 2012 report, the House Intelligence Committee warned that Chinese firms cooperate with their government and assist it in surveillance.

'Based on available classified and unclassified information, Huawei and ZTE cannot be trusted to be free of foreign state influence and thus pose a security threat to the United States and to our systems,' the report states.

The committee also warned US network providers and system developers to seek other suppliers because equipment produced by the Chinese firms likely contains spyware. 'Private-sector entities in the United States are strongly encouraged to consider the long-term security risks associated with doing business with either ZTE or Huawei for equipment or services. US network providers and systems developers are strongly encouraged to seek other vendors for their projects,' the report said.

It should be mentioned that the committee 'acknowledged that it had obtained no actual evidence that the firms had implanted their routers and other systems with surveillance devices,' Greenwald point out.

Greenwald contends that it is indeed "quite possible" that Chinese companies are tampering with their products in order to install surveillance technology, but the US has been engaged in precisely the same activity.

Source: http://voiceofrussia.com/news/2014_05_13/NSA- bugs-exported-US-made-network-equipment-8138/