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> XKEYSCORE also allows analysts to look for the usage of encryption, the use of a VPN or the TOR network, and a number of other things that could lead to a ta
by kosasbest 5y ago
> XKEYSCORE also allows analysts to look for the usage of encryption, the use of a VPN or the TOR network, and a number of other things that could lead to a target
With the proliferation of VPNs in recent years, many people are going to be targeted then, which perhaps is a good thing (the more people that leverage encryption for Internet privacy the better).
NSA & GCHQ must be getting very tired of all this cryptography, which has me thinking they have compromised several VPN companies or setup several VPN honeypot companies for their own purposes.
Another thing: being targeted with exploits because you use Tor must be an interesting thing to happen to you. I use secure endpoints and monitor all my traffic, and I've been using Tor since its inception.
Maybe they just don't want to target me because my systems are so hardened? I remain humble however, as everything can be hacked. Whatever exploits they have targeted me with, must be very good because I haven't spotted anything malicious (yet!).
- DaftDank 5y agoI don't know why, but NordVPN has always made me wonder if it might be a honey pot. Just the way they came on the scene, had so much advertising money, made sure to bill themselves as the "no logs" option you heard the most about etc. But that's just pure speculation on my part
- gnu8 5y agoConsidering the low barrier to entry, I would say that most of them are just run by dilettantes wanting to make an easy buck, but that amounts to the same thing because an intelligence service would be able to have their way with the infrastructure of just about any commercial VPN provider. My thought was to sell a VPN-business-in-a-box where you plug in your domain name, AWS creds, and payment details and in exchange you get a fully built VPN business including a web site, VPN nodes, iOS app ready to submit to Apple, and so on. Just add customers...
- tgsovlerkhgsel 5y ago> Maybe they just don't want to target me because my systems are so hardened? They most likely don't want to target you in the first place. Yes, they're doing mass surveillance, but for the targeted stuff, they still have targets, and most of us won't make the list.
- freeduck 5y agohttps://www.linuxjournal.com/content/nsa-linux-journal-extremist-forum-and-its-readers-get-flagged-extra-surveillance https://www.linuxjournal.com/content/nsa-linux-journal-extre... The bar seems quite low
- tgsovlerkhgsel 5y agoThe reporting is bullshit. The (both the linuxjournal and its DasErste source) claims the rules call Linux Journal an extremist forum. The actual rules say "These variables define terms and websites relating to the TAILs (The Amnesic Incognito Live System) software program, a comsec mechanism advocated by extremists on extremist forums." There is a huge difference between matching some of those criteria (which may cause your surveillance data to be retained longer) and actually being targeted for active attacks. Regarding the longer retention, the Linuxjournal article says that "the Tagesschau story provides new details about how the NSA's XKEYSCORE program decides which traffic to keep indefinitely" but I found no such information in the Tagesschau story (http://web.archive.org/web/20141005083429/http://www.tagesschau.de/inland/nsa-xkeyscore-100.html http://web.archive.org/web/20141005083429/http://www.tagessc...) The consequences of having traffic to one of the tagged sites were never really publicly explained, always just "THE NSA IS WATCHING SPECIFICALLY FOR (random thing the NSA had a selector for)". Given how many people match each of these selectors, just matching one of them can't mean that much.