National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden smuggled thousands of highly classified documents out of an NSA facility in Hawaii using a thumb drive, officials told Ken Dilanian of the Los Angeles Times.
The 29-year-old ex-Booz Allen employee who was contracted as a system administrator — meaning he had wide access and a keen understanding of NSA computer networks — has already leaked classified documents, including a top secret court order compelling Verizon to turn over its call records, and a program, dubbed PRISM, that provides the agency access to nine big tech companies.
Investigators “know how many documents he downloaded and what server he took them from,” one official told the Times, but they still don't know how Snowden got access to the order marked “Top Secret” from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.
Glenn Greenwald of the Guardian, who has served as a conduit for Snowden's leaks, told The New York Times that Snowden provided “thousands” of classified documents — “dozens” of which are newsworthy.
We've covered how devices like thumb drives are already the bane of corporate information security and probably the next weapon of mass destruction.
Dilanian notes that someone, the chief suspect being Russian intelligence, trashed the Pentagon's classified network in October 2008 by inserting malicious software on a thumb drive.
Army Pfc. Bradley Manning, an intelligence analyst in Iraq, used thumbs drives and CDs when he downloaded hundreds of thousands of classified documents and gave the data to Wikileaks.
The Stuxnet virus that attacked Iran's nuclear program was planted by an Iranian double agent with a thumb drive.
Snowden is currently in Hong Kong, where he vows to fight extradition to the U.S.
SEE ALSO: After Classified Briefing Lawmaker Says NSA Revelations Are Only 'The Tip Of The Iceberg'nd
Join the conversation about this story »
     |