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Money quotes: an infrastructure analyst at the N.S.A., like a burglar casing an apartment building, looks for new ways to break into Internet and telephone tra
by swombat 13y ago
Money quotes:
an infrastructure analyst at the N.S.A., like a burglar casing an apartment building, looks for new ways to break into Internet and telephone traffic around the world.
Infrastructure analysts like Mr. Snowden, in other words, are not just looking for electronic back doors into Chinese computers or Iranian mobile networks to steal secrets. They have a new double purpose: building a target list in case American leaders in a future conflict want to wipe out the computers’ hard drives or shut down the phone system.
So basically he was a professional hacker. That takes a fair bit of intelligence, knowledge and experience, and is a fair bit beyond the job of a sysadmin, which is what everyone was assuming based on the title.
I guess it made sense. Unless you're Dr Evil, you probably won't call your hired mobsters "assassins" either, instead you might call them something neutral like "Situation Specialists"...
- walshemj 13y agoNo if you where a TLA why would you use job titles that gave anything away about what the persons job was. And how does one go from "Infrastructure Analyst" to being a government hacker looking at job postings for Infrastructure Analysts seems to indicate that it is a posh word for systems administrator.
- mncolinlee 13y agoNo one hires hackers using normal job postings and titles. They show up at DefCon and Black Hat Briefings and then schmooze in t-shirts and blue jeans. Like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tz0ejKersnM http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tz0ejKersnM
- greyman 13y agoYes I see it the same way. Still, I don't understand what the article wants to deduce or imply from that.
- tripzilch 13y ago> Unless you're Dr Evil, you probably won't call your hired mobsters "assassins" either, instead you might call them something neutral like "Situation Specialists"... Private Security Contractors.
- Amadou 13y ago> So basically he was a professional hacker. Which explains why Obama called him a hacker last week. Everybody (well some bodies) thought Obama was using language to trivialize the leaks since none of the leaks involved Snowden doing any hacking. Turns out Obama just accidentally revealed more about Snowden than we realized. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/28/obama-edward-snowden-hacker_n_3515562.html http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/28/obama-edward-snowde...