The tools behind Snowden’s wiretapping claim

It’s hard to watch the news these days and avoid the topic of Edward Snowden; the 29-year-old former National Security Agency (NSA) and Booz Allen Hamilton employee who blew the whistle on United States surveillance violations before fleeing the country. In an interview with Glenn Greenwald on June 10, 2013, Snowden revealed that “I, sitting at my desk, certainly had the authorities to wiretap anyone, from you, or your accountant, to a federal judge, to even the President if I had a personal email.” This statement startled America and the rest of the world with the fear that personal and work correspondence could be tapped into at any time.

This confession wreaked havoc in the states and then became a worldwide chase and debate over what the truth really is forced officials to speak out. Representative Mike Rogers (R-Michigan) says, “He was lying… he’s over-inflated what the actual technology of the program would allow one to do [and] it is impossible for him to do what he was saying he could do.” This led techies all over to dig and dig until they could find more about the program that Snowden claims can wiretap emails and Rogers denies even existing.

According to The Guardian, the NSA uses a “widest reaching” program called XKeyscore to tap into phone numbers, email addresses, log ins, and user activity.



Analysts can use this to search an agency database without a warrant or request that needs approval from a court or NSA official. All the XKeyscore program needs is an email or IP address, a justification, and a time range. Once the analyst can view all of the emails, they can then choose the specific messages they want to read and use NSA software to read them.

More leaked information mentions that XKeyscore can also search through social media comments and website visits using DNI, another program within XKeyscore. Snowden states that he had access to XKeyscore and all of its data when he was working for Booz Allen Hamilton, a strategy and technology consulting firm who allegedly supported NSA classified surveillance.

More information comes out daily about the NSA leaks, which need to be processed and addressed before the truth about the use of such software can be confirmed. But Snowden’s whistleblowing is bound to set the United States and government off into a finding the truth and mending its tarnished reputation.

Story via TechCrunch and The Guardian