The U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) has its own catalog of vulnerabilities that it uses to exploit commercial networking gear in order to insert backdoors to conduct surveillance, according to a report published this weekend in German news magazine Der Spiegel.
The report is based on materials leaked by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden and details new revelations about an NSA unit known as the Tailored Operations Unit, or TAO, which conducts operations that enable it to gain access to user PCs and computer networks in a number of ways. One of the more elaborate ways the NSA is able to insert backdoors is by intercepting technology shipments from a vendor to a user, loading malware onto the device, then forwarding the technology to its original destination.
Read the full story at eWEEK:
NSA Catalog Lists Vulnerabilities to Exploit Networking Gear: Report
Sean Michael Kerner is a senior editor at InternetNews.com. Follow him on Twitter @TechJournalist.
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