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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsCheap software helped Snowden “scrape” NSA’s networks (NYT)
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/09/us/snowden-used-low-cost-tool-to-best-nsa.htmlSnowden Used Low-Cost Tool to Best N.S.A.
By DAVID E. SANGER and ERIC SCHMITT
WASHINGTON Intelligence officials investigating how Edward J. Snowden gained access to a huge trove of the countrys most highly classified documents say they have determined that he used inexpensive and widely available software to scrape the National Security Agencys networks, and kept at it even after he was briefly challenged by agency officials.
Using web crawler software designed to search, index and back up a website, Mr. Snowden scraped data out of our systems while he went about his day job, according to a senior intelligence official. We do not believe this was an individual sitting at a machine and downloading this much material in sequence, the official said. The process, he added, was quite automated.
The findings are striking because the N.S.A.s mission includes protecting the nations most sensitive military and intelligence computer systems from cyberattacks, especially the sophisticated attacks that emanate from Russia and China. Mr. Snowdens insider attack, by contrast, was hardly sophisticated and should have been easily detected, investigators found.
Moreover, Mr. Snowden succeeded nearly three years after the WikiLeaks disclosures, in which military and State Department files, of far less sensitivity, were taken using similar techniques.
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Cheap software helped Snowden “scrape” NSA’s networks (NYT) (Original Post)
jsr
Feb 2014
OP
RC
(25,592 posts)1. The NSA was so busy running rough shod over other people's security, they forgot their own.
This has been known for quite some time. At least since the time that the information Snowden had, came to light.
X_Digger
(18,585 posts)2. Done well, a scrape / spidering just looks like someone browsing.
Mimic the user-agent string of a standard browser, keep requests to a reasonable speed (don't get flagged as suspicious for overloading the network equipment), and it's damned hard to detect.
KoKo
(84,711 posts)4. Massive Arrogance Fail! By NSA?
I'm pretty clueless about tech stuff...but isn't "Web Crawler" something from way back? The name rings a bell from like 2000 or something?
Downwinder
(12,869 posts)5. Embarrassing when someone uses your own tools against you.