With internet traffic growing exponentially, attacks on government and commercial computers by cyber terrorists and rogue states have escalated. Those wishing harm have espionage programs targeting the data systems used by the United States and allies. Drug traffickers and weapons dealers use the internet with encrypted communications. To counter these activities, the National Security Agency, an agency of the U.S. government, is building a fortified data center deep inside a mountain in Utah. This complex will house the world’s most sophisticated supercomputers dedicated to code breaking and data traffic analysis. Another site will eventually take delivery of the latest Cray supercomputer called Cascade to support the NSA’s need to crack codes faster to protect the nation and its allies.
Tag Archive for Government Surveillance
United States
Imaging Systems and Methods for Immersive Surveillance (ISIS) Patent
Security guards at large facilities, such as airports, monitor multiple screens that display images from individual surveillance cameras dispersed throughout the facility. If a guard zooms with a particular camera, he may lose image resolution, along with perspective on the surrounding area. Embodiments of the inventive Imaging System for Immersive Surveillance (ISIS) solve these problems by combining multiple cameras in one device. When properly mounted, example ISIS systems offer up to 360-degree, 240-megapixel views on a single screen. (Other fields of view and resolutions are also possible.) Image-stitching software merges multiple video feeds into one scene. The system also allows operators to tag and follow targets, and can monitor restricted areas and sound an alert when intruders breach them.
News
Unravelling TrapWire: The CIA-Connected Global Suspicious Activity Surveillance System
A number of hacked emails from the private intelligence firm Stratfor have shed light on a global suspicious activity surveillance system called TrapWire, that is reportedly in use in locations around the world from the London Stock Exchange to the White House. The emails, which were released yesterday by WikiLeaks, provide information on the extent and operations of a system designed to correlate suspicious activity reports and other evidence that may indicate surveillance connected with a potential terrorist attack.
Corporate
Abraxas Corporation TrapWire Pre-Attack Terrorist Detection System Trademark Document
Trap Wire dramatically increases the ability to detect pre-attack preparations and to take appropriate action to detect, deter and intercept tenorist attacks. A visual monitor of the entire system-a map with dynamic status indicators for each entity connected to the Trap Wire network- facilitates the ability of decisionmakers to absorb vast quantities of information quickly and efficiently. The dynamic status indicators show the threat level at each facility and highlight those that have moved to a higher threat level over the preceding 24 hours. Security officials can thus focus on the highest priorities first, taking a proactive and collaborative approach to defense against attacks. The information collected by Trap Wire can also be shared with law enforcement agencies to assist in their counterterrorism efforts.
National Security Agency
NSA Possible Domestic Interception/Collection Points Map
A map and list of possible locations of NSA domestic interception points inside the United States. The list was presented by computer security researcher Jacob Appelbaum at a recent event held at the Whitney Museum in New York along with filmmaker Laura Poitras and ex-NSA employee William Binney. One of the addresses, an AT&T building on Folsom Street in San Francisco, is the location of Room 641A which was the subject of multiple lawsuits regarding warrantless surveillance of U.S. citizens. A recent article in Wired quoted Binney as estimating that there are likely ten to twenty of these locations around the country.
Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Agency
(U//FOUO) IARPA Catalyst Entity Extraction and Disambiguation Study Final Report
Catalyst, a component of DDNI/A’s Analytical Transformation Program, will process unstructured, semistructured, and structured data to produce a knowledge base of entities (people, organizations, places, events, …) with associated attributes and the relationships among them. It will perform functions such as entity extraction, relationship extraction, semantic integration, persistent storage of entities, disambiguation, and related functions (these are defined in the body of the report). The objective of this study is to assess the state-of-the-art and state-of-the-practice in these areas.
Corporate
Harris Corporation AmberJack, StingRay, StingRay II, KingFish Wireless Surveillance Products 2010 Price List
A 2010 price list for Harris Corporation wireless surveillance products was included in contract documentation for the purchase of multiple KingFish Dual Mode wireless measurement systems that went to Maricopa County, Arizona.
Department of Homeland Security
DHS Media Monitoring Desktop Reference Manual
A manual for the Department of Homeland Security’s Media Monitoring Capability that was reportedly obtained by EPIC via a FOIA request. The manual has been slightly redacted by DHS to remove names and contact information and the URL of the Network Operations Center Media Monitoring Capability reporting website. This website has been listed in three of the four publicly available manuals as an example of a website monitored by DHS.
Department of Homeland Security
DHS Testimony on Social Networking and Media Monitoring
Social media are web-based and mobile technologies that turn communication into an interactive dialogue in a variety of online fora. It may be appropriate for the government, including DHS, to use social media for a variety of reasons. The President has challenged his Administration to use technology and tools to create a more efficient, effective, and transparent government1. DHS recognizes that the use of social media by government actors must occur with appropriate privacy, civil rights, and civil liberties protections; whether DHS is disclosing its informationand press releases via social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook, reviewing news feeds for situational awareness, or researching identified, discrete targets for legitimate investigatory purposes. Accordingly, DHS has created Department-wide standards designed to protect privacy, civil rights, and civil liberties in each category of its use.
Corporate
Blue Coat Systems Web Filtering/Surveillance Technology Sales Guide
A “Sales Playbook” for distributors of Blue Coat equipment includes pricelists and a guide to selling web filtering technology including some of the very same models discovered by Telecomix to be in use by the Syrian government for spying on their population. These models include the SG-400 and SG-810, among others, which have a price range of $3,999 up to $34,999 depending on the specific model.
Federal Reserve Bank of New York
Federal Reserve Bank of New York Sentiment Analysis and Social Media Monitoring Proposal
Federal Reserve Bank of New York (“FRBNY”) is extending to suppliers an invitation to participate in an Sentiment Analysis And Social Media Monitoring Solution RFP bid process. The intent is to establish a fair and equitable partnership with a market leader who will who gather data from various social media outlets and news sources and provide applicable reporting to FRBNY. This Request for Proposal (“RFP”) was created in an effort to support FRBNY’s Social Media Listening Platforms initiative.
Corporate
Harris Corporation AmberJack, StingRay, StingRay II, KingFish Wireless Surveillance Products Price List
Harris Corporation price list for their AmberJack, StingRay, StingRay II, KingFish wireless surveillance products from September 2008.
News
A Look Inside “Little Guantanamo”: Communication Management Units and Terrorist Inmate Surveillance
Several restricted intelligence reports from the Counter-Terrorism Unit of the Federal Bureau of Prisons obtained by Public Intelligence detail the incredible levels of surveillance conducted on inmates convicted of terrorism offenses. In particular, the reports detail inmates stored in secretive units known as “Communication Management Units” (CMU) which have been widely criticized by the ACLU and other human rights groups for placing severe restrictions on the activities, as well as visitation and communication rights of inmates housed in the facilities.
Federal Bureau of Prisons
(U//FOUO/LES) Federal Bureau of Prisons Counter-Terrorism Unit Inmate Spying Reports
The following documents contain analysis of the monitoring of communications made by inmates convicted of offenses related to domestic and international terrorism. Many of the inmates are housed at the Communications Management Units in Terre Haute, Indiana (THA CMU) or Marion, Illinois (MAR CMU). These secretive units have been described by inmates as “Little Guantanamo” due to their unusual construction and treatment of detainees, severely restricting access to the public and media. For background information, see the June 25, 2009 Democracy Now interview with Andrew Stepanian, an animal rights activist imprisoned at one of the Communications Management Units.
National Security Agency, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Utah Data Center (UDC) Brief
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Utah Data Center (UDC) Brief, November 13, 2009.
National Security Agency
Yakima Training Center
The Yakima Training Center (YTC) is a United States Army training center (Army maneuver training and live fire area) located in south central Washington state. It is bounded on the west by Interstate 82, on the south by the city of Yakima, on the north by the city of Ellensburg and Interstate 90, and on the east by the Columbia River. It comprises 327,000 acres (132,332 hectares) of land, most of which consists of shrub-steppe, making it one of the largest areas of shrub-steppe habitat remaining in Washington state. According to a 2001 report by the European Parliament, the Yakima Training Center is also an integral part of the ECHELON global communications interception system.
European Union
2001 EU Parliament Report: Echelon Global Private and Commercial Communications Interception System
The existence of a global system for intercepting private and commercial communications (the ECHELON interception system)
A. whereas the existence of a global system for intercepting communications, operating by means of cooperation proportionate to their capabilities among the USA, the UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand under the UKUSA Agreement, is no longer in doubt; whereas it seems likely, in view of the evidence and the consistent pattern of statements from a very wide range of individuals and organisations, including American sources, that its name is in fact ECHELON, although this is a relatively minor detail . . .
European Union
Restricted US-EU Airline Passenger Information Sharing Agreement
Accord entre l’Union européenne et les États-Unis d’Amérique sur le traitement et le transfert de données PNR par des transporteurs aériens au bureau des douanes et de la protection des frontières du ministère américain de la sécurité intérieure.
Office of Inspector General of the Depratment of Defense
Unclassified Inspectors General Report on the President’s Surveillance Program
Title III of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act Amendments Act of 2008 required the Inspectors General (IGs) of the elements of the Intelligence Community that participated in the President’s Surveillance Program (PSP) to conduct a comprehensive review of the program. The IGs of the Department of Justice, the Department of Defense, the Central Intelligence Agency, the National Security Agency, and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence participated in the review required under the Act. The Act required the IGs to submit a comprehensive report on the review to the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, the Senate Committee on the Judiciary, the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, and the House Committee on the Judiciary.