US intelligence carried out 231 offensive cyber-ops in 2011, nearly three-quarters of them against key targets such as Iran, Russia, China and N. Korea, as well as nuclear proliferation, a classified report obtained by The Washington Post says.

The “most challenging targets” also include suspected terrorists “in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, Iraq, Somalia, and other extremist safe havens,” according to one list of priorities. US budget documents describe the attacks as “active defense.”

Some cyber-operations reportedly feature what one budget document calls “field operations” organized “to physically place hardware implants or software modifications” with the help of CIA operatives or clandestine military forces.

An implant is often coded in software by an NSA group called Tailored Access Operations, which builds attack tools that are custom-fitted to their targets, The Washington Post reports, adding that this year TAO is working on implants that “can identify select voice conversations of interest within a target network and exfiltrate select cuts,” one budget document says.

The reported US intelligence cyber-missions include the defense of military and other classified computer networks against foreign attack. These missions account for one-third of the total cyber-operations budget of $1.02 billion or 2013, according to the Cryptologic Program budget.

President Barack Obama’s directive on cyber-operations, issued in October 2012 and leaked in June 2013 by Snowden, stated that military cyber-operations resulting in the disruption, destruction or manipulation of computers must be approved by the president himself. The document largely does not apply to US intelligence agencies, however.

According to the US intelligence budget, by the end of this year a $652 million program named GENIE, which reportedly helps the US break into foreign networks to plant sophisticated malware in computers, routers and firewalls in tens of thousands of machines every year, will control at least 85,000 implants in strategically chosen computers around the world – four times the number available in 2008.

The NSA appears to be planning a rapid expansion of those numbers, which were limited until recently by the need for human operators to take remote control of compromised computers. Affected by disclosures of the classified data by Snowden, the NSA announced earlier this month it would cut up to 90 percent of its system administrators to reduce the number of people with access to secret information. Snowden leaked documents to the Guardian and the Washington Post, revealing previously secret telephone and internet surveillance programs run by the US government.

 

Source: RT.com

According to an authoritative reference document, for GENIE’s next phase the NSA has brought online an automated system, code-named TURBINE, capable of managing “potentially millions of implants” for intelligence gathering “and active attack,” The Washington Post reported.

Given the “vast volumes of data” pulled in by the NSA, storage could be a problem. The NSA has nearly completed a large-scale new data center in Utah, which will manage “storage, analysis, and intelligence production.” This will allow intelligence agencies “to evaluate similarities among intrusions that could indicate the presence of a coordinated cyber-attack, whether from an organized criminal enterprise or a nation-state.”


Avaya 9611G VoIP Phone 4-Pack 700510904 9611D02C-1009 700510904 | New Sealed picture

Avaya 9611G VoIP Phone 4-Pack 700510904 9611D02C-1009 700510904 | New Sealed

$112.46



Avaya 700513916 J139 IP PHONE picture

Avaya 700513916 J139 IP PHONE

$95.00



Extreme Avaya AL700001X-E6 VSP 7024XLS 24 SFP+ Ethernet Routing Switch w/ 2x PSU picture

Extreme Avaya AL700001X-E6 VSP 7024XLS 24 SFP+ Ethernet Routing Switch w/ 2x PSU

$145.00



Avaya JEM24 Expansion Module (700514337) - Brand New w/1-Year Warranty picture

Avaya JEM24 Expansion Module (700514337) - Brand New w/1-Year Warranty

$109.95



Avaya J139 IP Phone (700513916) - Brand New, 1 Year Warranty picture

Avaya J139 IP Phone (700513916) - Brand New, 1 Year Warranty

$99.95



Lot of 4 Avaya J179 8-Line Gigabit IP Color Bus. Phone 700513569: New Sealed Box picture

Lot of 4 Avaya J179 8-Line Gigabit IP Color Bus. Phone 700513569: New Sealed Box

$397.00



Avaya 9621G Digital Gigabit VoIP Office Phone Color Touchscreen PoE picture

Avaya 9621G Digital Gigabit VoIP Office Phone Color Touchscreen PoE

$19.00



Avaya J169 IP Phone *White* (700514468) Brand New, 1 Year Warranty picture

Avaya J169 IP Phone *White* (700514468) Brand New, 1 Year Warranty

$97.95



Avaya J179 Gigabit IP Phone (700513569) - Brand New w/1-Year Warranty picture

Avaya J179 Gigabit IP Phone (700513569) - Brand New w/1-Year Warranty

$137.95



Nortel Avaya 5698TFD-PWR 96-Port Ethernet Routing Switch 1x 1000W PSU picture

Nortel Avaya 5698TFD-PWR 96-Port Ethernet Routing Switch 1x 1000W PSU

$157.60