The U.S. National Security Agency hacked more than 50,000 computer networks worldwide last year, infecting them with malware used to conduct sophisticated spy operations, according to a top-secret slide leaked by Edward Snowden.
The new revelation comes from a 2012 PowerPoint slide published by Dutch newspaper NRC Handelsblad. The document shows a world map that highlights, among other things, more than 50,000 "world-wide implants" under the category "CNE" (Computer Network Exploitation) — NSA jargon for malware infections.
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Conducted by the Tailored Access Operations unit, the NSA's elite hacker team, one example of a CNE operation is the reported attack against Belgian telecom company Belgacom, according to NRC Handelsblad. However, that attack was previously reported to be carried out by NSA ally, the UK Government Communications Headquarters, a British intelligence agency.
Computer Network Exploitation includes "enabling actions and intelligence collection via computer networks that exploit data gathered from target or enemy information systems or networks," according to an NSA description of the program.
Once the malware is planted inside a network, the NSA's hackers can control it remotely to extract data at will. "The 'implants' act as digital 'sleeper cells' that can be activated with a single push of a button," the Dutch paper reported.
Meanwhile, another document leaked by Snowden to The New York Times, reveals that the NSA claimed it was going through a "golden age of SIGINT" (i.e. "signals intelligence" or the collection of information through intercepting signals).
In the document, which lays out the agency's strategy from 2012 to 2016, the NSA complained that current U.S. laws don't allow the scope of surveillance that it would like to conduct.
To be effective, the document said, "legal, policy and process authorities must be as adaptive and dynamic as the technological and operational advances we seek to exploit."
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