NSA Stopped Mass Storage Phone Data

US intelligence NSA has stopped the massive storage of telephone data, so reporting news agency Reuters, CNN and the intercept. In June, President Barack Obama decided to implement various reform measures and to limit the powers of the NSA.

So the Secret Service should not collect unfocused phone records of US citizens. Instead, the NSA will now have to be more focused work, in which first a court order is required, after which telecom operators may be asked to keep phone records of certain people or groups of people for a maximum period of six months.

The measure is a victory for privacy advocates and saw Edward Snowden, who felt that the NSA had this much power to spy on citizens. However, the NSA has asked the court to be allowed to continue using the data stored to date to February 29, 2016 on a limited scale. The judge must still here a judgment on it.

Whistleblower: Surfer Has No Chance Against NSA

Internet users have no chance to defend themselves against surveillance by the NSA, says whistleblower Bill Binney, which 37 years worked for the US Secret Service. Binney already warned of Edward Snowden, in 2011, for the surveillance practices of the NSA.

As Snowden Binney left ultimately with the Secret Service. In his own words because he saw how technology was meant to spy on terrorists was used to monitor US citizens. Since then, he seeks to address the privacy violations by US intelligence and investigation services. This week he made ​​an "Ask Me Anything" on the social news site Reddit.

When asked what people can do to protect themselves on the Internet and anonymous are advising him to use smoke signals. "With a budget of more than $ 10 billion a year that the NSA, they have more resources to collect your data than you ever can defend against," said the whistleblower. He sees the solution whatsoever in legislation. Binney therefore calls Americans to call their local politicians and complain about this. "If you do nothing, we are the cigar!".

It does not because if users use closed or open source software. "No software is safe for surveillance," claims Binney. He also makes it clear that the NSA large amounts of data it gathers not know how to use successful. Analysts can not meet the continuous data stream and therefore miss important information. Still, the NSA continues with the mass data storage.According to Binney deliberately, as this provides more funding.

China Arrests Hackers At The Request Of United States

Chinese authorities have arrested at the request of the US government several hackers allegedly broke into US companies. In addition, business secrets were stolen for the purpose by which Chinese enterprises play, so the reports Washington Post.

The arrests were made ​​two weeks before the visit of Chinese President Xi to be the USA, as is now known. Earlier, Susan Rice, National Security Advisor of the United States, announced that cyber espionage by China really had to stop. During his visit, Xi showed that China is not engaged in cyber espionage, and he wants to join forces with the US. In recent weeks, US intelligence and investigation agencies made ​​a list of hackers who were sought.

The list was then given to the Chinese authorities that led to the arrests of a handful of individuals. US officials are now wondering whether the Chinese authorities will prosecute the hackers. Earlier this week, the Financial Times said that the US authorities had three Chinese companies identified that have benefited in the past from cyber espionage. Something that denied two of the three companies.

Stop Using NSA Collected Phone Records

US intelligence NSA will stop on November 29 with the use of the telephone data collected in recent years through mass surveillance in the United States. Just recently, the US Senate Section 215 of the Patriot Act not to renew . Through this legislation, the NSA was authorized to store massive call data of American citizens and preserve.

In a statement, the Director of National Intelligence now announced that data from November 29 will no longer be used.However, technical staff of the NSA will have three months long to access the data. This would be necessary in order of data which may be collected to verify the new USA under Freedom legislation.

In addition, the NSA would be legally bound to keep the bulk of the collected telephone records, until civil proceedings are related to the eavesdropping program completed or that the court states that the NSA's data no longer need to keep.According to the NSA Data is maintained only because of the civil proceedings and will not be used for other purposes. The data will eventually be destroyed, so the Secret Service says.

US Spy Chief Calls "Cyber Armageddon" Unlikely

Although some politicians, military officials , businesses and interest groups for years for a digital "Pearl Harbor" warn the risk of a catastrophic attack by one party at this time is unlikely. That left James Clapper, head of US intelligence, yesterday at a hearing before a committee of the US Senate to know.

"Instead of a" cyber Armageddon "scenario that the entire US infrastructure disrupted, we foresee something else," said Clapper. It is then to form a continuous series of small to moderate cyber attacks from various parties that an increasing burden on the competitiveness of the US economy and national security.

According Clapper Various studies indicate that a number of countries, including Iran and North Korea, from economic and political motives offensive cyber operations conducted against the US private sector. Furthermore Clapper also warned of the risk of compromised hardware and software that is sabotaged anywhere in the supply chain. Also, malicious insiders in the coming years pose a risk to IT systems.

In addition to Iran and North Korea Clapper also named Russia and China as countries engaged in offensive cyber operations and cyber espionage. Finally, the head of intelligence for terrorists who will use the Internet to carry out attacks. "Terrorist groups will continue to experiment with hacking, which can serve as the basis for the development of more advanced capabilities."

The statements of Clapper follow the revelations of the Equation Group . According to experts, one of the most advanced cyber-espionage operations ever that would be carried out by the NSA or the NSA affiliated group during a period of several years.