NSA Has Developed Technology That Uses Radio Transmissions To Gain Access And Pry Open Computer Systems

A general view of the large former monitoring base of the U.S. intelligence organization National Security Agency (NSA) in Bad Aibling south of Munich, June 18, 2013. Credit: Reuters/Michaela Rehle

N.S.A. Devises Radio Pathway Into Computers -- New York Times

WASHINGTON — The National Security Agency has implanted software in nearly 100,000 computers around the world that allows the United States to conduct surveillance on those machines and can also create a digital highway for launching cyberattacks.

While most of the software is inserted by gaining access to computer networks, the N.S.A. has increasingly made use of a secret technology that enables it to enter and alter data in computers even if they are not connected to the Internet, according to N.S.A. documents, computer experts and American officials.

The technology, which the agency has used since at least 2008, relies on a covert channel of radio waves that can be transmitted from tiny circuit boards and USB cards inserted surreptitiously into the computers. In some cases, they are sent to a briefcase-size relay station that intelligence agencies can set up miles away from the target.

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More News On The Ability Of The NSA To Gain Access To Computer Networks Via Radio Transmissions

NSA carves pathway into international computers -New York Times -- Reuters
Report: NSA Maps Pathway Into Computers -- ABC News/AP
Report: NSA spying on computers around world -- USA Today
NSA able to target offline computers using radio-waves for surveillance, cyber-attacks -- RT
NYT: NSA Secretly Accessed Thousands of Computers Globally -- Newsmax
NSA reportedly using radio waves to tap offline computers -- CNet
NSA's 'Quantum' program reportedly lets the agency access 100,000 offline computers -- The Verge