NSA using 'leaky apps' like Angry Birds, Google Maps to siphon user data

CNET - According to the latest documents from Edward Snowden, the NSA and its British counterpart see smartphones and the data being pulled from popular apps as a "golden nugget" of spy resources.

Relying on data scooped up from so-called leaky apps -- everything from Angry Birds and Google Maps to applications with photo- and location-sharing abilities like Facebook, Flickr, and Twitter -- the NSA and Britain's Government Communications Headquarter have been secretly collecting swaths of personal data about users' age, daily whereabouts, address books, and much more, according to documents provided by Edward Snowden and published in The New York Times, The Guardian, and ProPublica on Monday.

While the existence and extent of the US and British governments' mobile data collection have surfaced in previous reports, the latest documents shed new light on just how far-reaching that collection is and the specific apps the NSA and GCHQ have most found useful in what is referred to as "the mobile surge," an unofficial name for the initiative according to a 2011 British document that compares the operation to that of troop movements in Afghanistan and Iraq.   Read More

NSA reportedly planted spyware on electronics equipment - Dell, Samsung & More

Based on internal NSA documents, Der Spiegel reveals that the spy agency planted backdoors to access computers, hard drives, routers, and other devices from companies such as Cisco, Dell, Western Digital, Seagate, Maxtor and Samsung.

CNET - A new report from Der Spiegel, based on internal National Security Agency documents, reveals more details about how the spy agency gains access to computers and other electronic devices to plant backdoors and other spyware.

The Office of Tailored Access Operations, or TAO, is described as a "squad of digital plumbers" that deals with hard targets -- systems that are not easy to infiltrate. TAO has reportedly been responsible for accessing the protected networks of heads of state worldwide, works with the CIA and FBI to undertake "sensitive missions," and has penetrated the security of undersea fiber-optic cables. TAO also intercepts deliveries of electronic equipment to plant spyware to gain remote access to the systems once they are delivered and installed.

Der Spiegel: Inside TAO -Documents Reveal Top NSA Hacking Unit

Der Spiegel: Shopping for Spy Gear - Catalog Advertises NSA Toolbox

According to the report, the NSA has planted backdoors to access computers, hard drives, routers, and other devices from companies such as Cisco, Dell, Western Digital, Seagate, Maxtor, Samsung, and Huawei. The report describes a 50-page product catalog of tools and techniques that an NSA division called ANT, which stands for Advanced or Access Network Technology, uses to gain access to devices.

This follows a report that the security firm RSA intentionally allowed the NSA to create a backdoor into its encryption tokens.   Read More

NSA Wrongly Says Warrantless Mobile-Phone Location Tracking Is Legal

Wired - National Security Agency snoops are harvesting as many as 5 billion records daily to track mobile phones as they ping nearby cell towers across the globe.

That alarming scoop by The Washington Post via documents provided by NSA leaker Edward Snowden included wishful thinking from an unnamed government “intelligence lawyer” interviewed in the story. This official, according to the Post, said that the data “are not covered by the Fourth Amendment,” meaning a probable-cause warrant isn’t required to get it.

In reality, however, the case law on cell-site locational tracking — while generally favorable to the government — is far from clear, with federal courts and appellate courts offering mixed rulings on whether warrants are needed.

And it’s a big deal. As of last year, there were 326.4 million wireless subscriber accounts, exceeding the U.S. population, responsible for 2.3 trillion annual minutes of calls, according to the Wireless Association.

All the while, warrantless cell-phone location tracking has become a de facto method to snoop on criminals in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision that probable-cause warrants from judges are generally needed to affix covert GPS devices to vehicles.   

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Obama Promises Reform of NSA Spying, But the Devil Will Be in the Details

EFF - ...President Obama held a press conference to address the growing public concern over the National Security Agency’s surveillance practices. We are glad to see that the Administration has been forced to address the matter publicly as a result of the sustained public pressure from concerned voters as well as the ongoing press coverage of this issue. Obama acknowledged that Americans were uncomfortable with the surveillance that has been leaked to the media (and noted that he would be as well, if he weren’t in the government).  He made four commitments to transparency and reform during the press conference, and also published a whitepaper describing the legal interpretation of the PATRIOT Act that is used to attempt to justify bulk surveillance.

While we’re glad Obama is responding to the public’s concerns, we take Obama’s promises today with a healthy dose of skepticism. He may be paying lip service to accountability and transparency, but the devil will be in the details when it comes to whether his proposals will be effective.

Other promises aside, President Obama did not commit to reducing the surveillance of Americans’ communications or the communications of individuals abroad who are not suspected of any crime.

Obama’s 4 Commitments – And What’s Missing

Obama made 4 specific commitments around NSA surveillance. Here’s an overview of what he did – and did not – promise to do.

1. Obama will work with Congress to "pursue appropriate reforms to Section 215 of the Patriot Act." This is the subsection of law used to justify the bulk collection of telephone records. Several bills have been introduced this Congress that attempt to tighten up this law, and we’re glad to see Obama will be supportive of such efforts. However, Obama pointedly did not address Sec. 702, the other statute that the government has cited as supporting its broader surveillance, including the content of communications.  And as we’ve explained, to return Americans to the rule of law and privacy and free speech rights that they deserve, we’ll need changes well beyond Section 215 of the PATRIOT Act. And even as to 215, Obama failed to explain what "appropriate reforms" might look like. Read what EFF thinks should be in NSA reform legislation.   More

Your Cell Phone Is Under More Surveillance Than Ever

Gizmodo - United States law enforcement agencies are requesting user information such as "text messages, caller locations and other information" at an alarming rate—at least 1.3 million requests last year alone—according to cellular carriers.

This is our new age of digital law enforcement: The cops are coming for your cell phones, and the law is too dumb to stop them.

Over the past five years, Verizon has seen the number of requests increase by 15 percent a year, coming to 260,000 in 2011. AT&T alone has seen the number of requests triple, ballooning to over 700 per day.

Under normal circumstances, a subpoena can net your basic account info like your name, address, and credit card number, which is bad enough. Beyond that, law enforcement needs a court order or a warrant to frack your texts, calls, and locations. But 230 of those 700 daily requests that AT&T is fielding are designated emergencies, which circumvent the typical court order process. Emergencies, as noted in Verizon's letter to Representative Edward J. Markey, are supposed to involve "danger of death or serious physical injury."

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Appeals Court Revives EFF’s Challenge to Government’s Massive Spying Program – Justices Find that Spied-On Telephone Customers Have the Right to Sue

 

Justices Find that Spied-On Telephone Customers Have the Right to Sue

 

San Francisco – The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals today blocked the government’s attempt to bury the Electronic Frontier Foundation’s (EFF’s) lawsuit against the government’s illegal mass surveillance program, returning Jewel v. NSA to the District Court for the next step.

The court found that Jewel had alleged sufficient specifics about the warrantless wiretapping program to proceed. Justices rejected the government’s argument that the allegations about the well-known spying program and the evidence of the Folsom Street facility in San Francisco were too speculative.

“Since the dragnet spying program first came to light, we have been fighting for the chance to have a court determine whether it is legal,” said EFF Legal Director Cindy Cohn. “Today, the Ninth Circuit has given us that chance, and we look forward to proving the program is an unconstitutional and illegal violation of the rights of millions of ordinary Americans.”        More

This Week: Appeals Court to Weigh National Security Agency Dragnet Surveillance

Wired - Whether the federal government and the nation’s telecommunication companies can be held accountable for allegedly funneling every American’s electronic communication to the National Security Agency without warrants is the subject of oral arguments scheduled for a federal appeals court Wednesday.

At issue is a Jan. 31, 2006 lawsuit, and others that followed, alleging violations of the Fourth Amendment right to be free from warrantless searches and seizures. The cases, about three dozen which will be consolidated into two oral arguments, have been thrown out of court on a variety of grounds, chiefly the government’s claim that the lawsuits would expose state secrets, and a 2008 law that immunized the nation’s telcos from such lawsuits.

Nearly six years later, the merits of the lawsuits have never been addressed. The Electronic Frontier Foundation, which brought the leading cases, appealed, and contends that the litigation should never have been dismissed.

“As far as we know the surveillance is ongoing,” says Cindy Cohn, the EFF’s legal director, who will be arguing before a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Seattle. “I think it is tremendously important that Americans not be subject to dragnet surveillance by the government. I think the Fourth Amendment, the right to privacy, is important for this country.”

Threat Level will cover the arguments from the courtroom Wednesday afternoon. The hearing is expected to begin at 2:00 p.m. and last at least two hours.

The Obama administration is set to urge the court to let stand the lower-court decisions dismissing the lawsuits. What’s more, the government contends, litigation against the government and the telcos must die because it threatens to expose government secrets and undermine national security.                    More