Soviet US: Cisco and others secretly partner with US intel, allow US government to install malware on computers shipped all over the world without customer knowledge-Ars Technica, 5/14/2014, photo of NSA tech installing malware on Cisco hardware

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“NSA techs perform an unauthorized field upgrade to [partner] Cisco hardware in these 2010 photos from an NSA document [provided by Edward Snowden].”



5/14/2014, “Photos of an NSA “upgrade” factory show Cisco router getting [US government malware] implant,” Ars Technica, Sean Gallagher

“Servers, routers get [US government malware] “beacons” implanted at secret locations by NSA’s TAO team.”

“A document included in the trove of National Security Agency files released with Glenn Greenwald’s book No Place to Hide details how the agency’s Tailored Access Operations (TAO) unit and other NSA employees intercept servers, routers, and other network gear being shipped to organizations targeted for surveillance and install covert implant firmware onto them before they’re delivered.

These Trojan horse systems were described by an NSA manager as being “some of the most productive operations in TAO because they pre-position access points into hard target networks around the world.”

The document, a June 2010 internal newsletter article by the chief of the NSA’s Access and Target Development department (S3261) includes photos (above) of NSA employees opening the shipping box for a Cisco router and installing beacon firmware with a “load station” designed specifically for the task.

The NSA manager described the process:

“Here’s how it works: shipments of computer network devices (servers, routers, etc,) being delivered to our targets throughout the world are intercepted. Next, they are redirected to a secret location where Tailored Access Operations/Access Operations (AO-S326) employees, with the support of the Remote Operations Center (S321), enable the installation of beacon implants directly into our targets’ electronic devices. These devices are then re-packaged and placed back into transit to the original destination. All of this happens with the support of Intelligence Community partners and the technical wizards in TAO.””

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Comment: No one should buy a computer product manufactured in the US or shipped from the US.

 


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