That "common rumor" has always struck me as particularly stupid. I believe it's popular because "everything is worse than you think" conspiratorial cynicism is

That "common rumor" has always struck me as particularly stupid. I believe it's popular because "everything is worse than you think" conspiratorial cynicism is what passes for intelligence these days. This hack by itself should be proof that the NSA has no such capabilities. And, no, stopping this hack would not have compromised anything. They could have tipped off any one of a rather large number of security researchers, companies, or vendors affected who would have gladly made up a believable story as to how they noticed this.