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from:alt.conspiracy
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Click Here: <A HREF="aol://5863:126/alt.conspiracy:574454">Cyber threats
catch US spies on the hop</A>
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Subject: Cyber threats catch US spies on the hop
From: <A HREF="mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]">[EMAIL PROTECTED]</A>
Date: Fri, 26 November 1999 09:02 AM EST
Message-id: <81m3tv$g1j$[EMAIL PROTECTED]>

November 26 1999    The Times

Cyber threats catch US spies on the hop
FROM JAMES BONE IN NEW YORK

The "information revolution" is overwhelming the eavesdropping capacity of the
United States and may force a restructuring at the nation's largest spy
agency, reports suggest.

Informed sources told CNN that the 38,000-strong National Security Agency
(NSA), which employs more than twice as many people as the Central
Intelligence Agency, is considering a significant reorganisation to meet the
demands of the Internet era.

The NSA, based at Fort Meade outside Washington, is so secretive that its
acronym is sometimes said to stand for "No Such Agency" or "Never Say
Anything". Yet, equipped with the world's fastest supercomputers and working
with allies such as Britain's GCHQ, it produces an estimated 80 per cent of
America's intelligence.

The growth of digital technology and sophisticated encryption, and the
proliferation of threats since the collapse of the Soviet Union, is said to
be stretching the agency's ability to keep track of communications around the
world.

At the same time, the transition from analog to digital phones, the prevalence
of fax machines, and the increasing use of fibre optic cable, all make
electronic eavesdropping more complex, as does the wider availability of
encryption software that can be used by criminals and spies to encode their
communications.

The NSA recently became embroiled in controversy when an Ontario-based
computer consultant claimed to have identified its secret backdoor - called
"NSAKEY" - into Microsoft's Windows operating systems. Both the agency and
Microsoft denied that it had special access to encrypted Windows files.

Besides generating huge amounts of e-mail, the Internet has also created a
mountain of publicly available information that the NSA must monitor - a
labour-intensive task.

The agency has recently had to resort to recruiting known hackers because of
the shortage of computer security experts.

Despite their anti-establishment bent, hackers have been offered a four-year
college scholarship in return for working at the NSA during their holidays
and spending at least five years there after graduation.

But US officials caution that the country might not be ready for a sneak
cyber-attack - sometimes known as an "electronic Pearl Harbour".

There are fears that hackers around the world will mount a concerted assault
on government and business computer systems at New Year to try to exploit the
Y2K computer bug.
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