According to leaked information, the National Security Agency (NSA) has hired IT experts to hack 50,000 computer systems worldwide.
A media report which acquired the information disclosed by Edward Snowden, a former CIA employee and NSA contractor, said that the security agency hired a great number of IT experts to penetrate into 50,000 computer systems around the world and fix malicious software created to tap on sensitive data.
According to The Amsterdam Daily, the agency has been performing this kind of cyber operations since 1998, and the number of the IT experts they have employed to hack has been doubled.
The said “illegal” cyber operations was code-named Tailored Access Operations (TAC) and it is carried out from a special department in the NSA.
The NSA malware placed on the hacked computers can stay behind active for more than a few years without being noticed and it can be distantly stage-managed from the agency’s headquarters in Fort Meade, Maryland.
The newspaper said, “These implants acted as digital sleeper cells that can be activated with a single push of a button.”
The newspaper also said that the Cyber operations are getting more and more significant for the agency.
Cyber operations are increasingly important for the NSA. Computer hacks are fairly low-cost and offers the intelligence agency with opportunities to get hold of information that they would not have access to if they don’t penetrate the computers.
According to the leaked document, a similar activity was also done by Britain’s Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) to gain access to the computer systems of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) in Vienna, Austria, Belgacom, the Belgian telecommunications service provider, and a number of other companies.
The document stated that GCHQ maneuvered a quantity of well-liked websites to gain entry to their computer networks and to affix malwares.
