The NSA manipulates internet traffic and injects malware. Also, the NSA’s own chips of the plugs of usb cables spy-devices. That claims beveiligingsonderzoeker and journalist Jacob Appelbaum.
According to Appelbaum, who is best known for his work for the Tor project, are under more routers of end-users, hacked to internet traffic to be intercepted and own packets to inject. Also would the NSA about two way radios with which traffic on a distance of almost thirteen miles in wireless internet traffic can be injected. “To replace them, in fact, the road on which we drive,” said Appelbaum. “As an American, I do not want my government invests in security issues, but they understand them.”
The beveiligingsonderzoeker-cum-journalist claims that the NSA on many points, internet traffic can be intercepted, that the secret service about a “global great firewall’. Thus, he refers to the great firewall of China, that a lot of internet traffic blocks. “The NSA would also be able to do,” says Appelbaum. “The NSA might, for example, in one time worldwide, Tor traffic can block it.”
In another attack would iframes are injected on websites, then the malware is served. That would, inter alia, via the websites of Yahoo, and CNN happen. “This attack can be harmless to be made with a complete switch to https,” said Appelbaum. Most of the large providers of cloud services are the last time switched to https, but other sites run completely or largely on http.
Also be usb-connectors are manipulated. The usb plug will receive an extra chip that connects to wi-fi networks, said Appelbaum. “Then the usb-plug, a bridge to a wireless network.” How the flow of chips to be affixed to said Appelbaum, but earlier during his presentation, he told him that the NSA parcel service, for example Amazon open. “They mess with your hardware while it is being shipped,” said Appelbaum.
When another attack would taps are placed under more images of monitors intercept. That would be from a great distance can be drained through links with a lot of energy. According to Appelbaum brings health risks.
The firmware of multiple brands of hard drives can also be cracked, allowing for a backdoor of the NSA present would be able to continue after formatting the hard drives. Hard drives from Western Digital, Seagate, Maxtor and Samsung, the largest computer hardware manufacturers, would be affected. “They have support for fat, ntfs, ext3 and ufs,” said Appelbaum.
The NSA has, according to Appelbaum a large stack with zero-days. “They hoarden zero days”, says Appelbaum, including in the bios of multiple cpus, which malware can be made that even after the reinstall of the operating system. The NSA would also have backdoors in several different servers, including PowerEdge servers from Dell. So there would be a debugging interface present on some of the PowerEdge servers that are known to be easily drained; Appelbaum wonders if that interface is intentionally applied.
Furthermore, if the NSA with the firmware of wi-fi chips in laptops, including Dell, said Appelbaum. If the wifi network is not being used, ensure hacks from the NSA sure the laptop will still connect to open wi-fi networks in the vicinity, so that users can be tracked if they are not actively using the internet. “Thus, air gaps are rendered harmless,” said Appelbaum.
A vulnerability on sim cards, which last summer was discovered by researcher Karsten Nohl, according to Appelbaum also abused by the NSA. This could include the location of a user may be traced by malware on a sim card to install. That malware could be installed through a malicious sms message to send. According to Appelbaum, is the discovery of Nohl evidence that vulnerabilities that the NSA might be discovered, or even designed, also can be detected by others, and so also abused. Therefore, it is according to Appelbaum was a danger that the NSA those vulnerabilities deliberately leaves open.
The iPhone would also be a target. “The NSA argues that, when it wants to, in all cases, iPhones can penetrate,” says Appelbaum. “Or that means that Apple actively backdoors builds or that the NSA is a whole big pile of bugs in iOS, I don’t know. Maybe it is just bad software,” says Appelbaum. “I hope that the hackers in the CCC the hacked equipment, re-design,” said the American to the audience on the hackersconferentie.
The past half year, and came out on the surveillancepraktijken of the NSA to journalists were leaked by whistleblower Edward Snowden. Currently is Snowden in Russia, where he was granted asylum. The United States to search him for the leak of secret information.
Also, read the annual review of Tweakers about the NSA revelations