How the NSA Can Get Onto Your Computer

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May 23, 2014
by
Evan Wexler
Elias Mallette

Many of the NSA’s programs revealed in the Snowden leaks describe the agency’s ability to target specific pieces of software.

But as The New York Times and others reported earlier this year, there is a suite of programs, codenamed QUANTUM, which allows the NSA access to a much wider variety of computers.

We had security expert Ashkan Soltani break it down.

QUANTUM is a multifaceted surveillance tool.

Documents released by Snowden suggest that QUANTUM encompasses several technologies that together offer different pathways into computers the NSA chooses to target. For example, a program called QUANTUMHAND, is thought to allow the NSA to disguise itself as a Facebook server in order to get onto a user’s device.

Facebook has stated the company found “no evidence of this alleged activity.”

Related: How the NSA Can Access Your iPhone

Evan Wexler

Email:

evan_wexler@wgbh.org

Elias Mallette

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