Servers, routers get “beacons” implanted at secret locations by NSA’s TAO
team.
NSA techs perform an unauthorized field upgrade to Cisco hardware in these
2010 photos from an NSA document.
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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.
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2014/05/photos-of-an-nsa-upgrade-factory-show-cisco-router-getting-implant/
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