NSA divided over possible amnesty deal for Snowden

[Acidripp]

The surveillance agency says it has spent tens of millions of dollars to remove computers the former NSA contractor had access to, including the cables that connected them to the network.

Officials at the National Security Agency are divided over whether to offer an amnesty deal to espionage suspect Edward Snowden, who is said to have cost the agency tens of millions of dollars to ensure his presence was removed from its networks.

The former NSA contractor, who has been granted asylum in Russia, is said to have stolen 1.7 million classified documents from government computers before fleeing the US in June. However, law enforcement officials concede they may never know the size of his haul.

"They've spent hundreds and hundreds of man-hours trying to reconstruct everything he has gotten, and they still don't know all of what he took," a senior administration official told The New York Times. "I know that seems crazy, but everything with this is crazy."

Whether return of that cache is worth a deal with Snowden is a contentious subject within the NSA. Rick Ledgett, who runs the NSA task force assessing the damage on the Snowden leaks, told CBS' news program "60 Minutes" during a segment aired Sunday (see below) that an amnesty deal is "worth having a conversation about. I would need assurances that the remainder of the data could be secured, and my bar for those assurances would be very high. It would be more than just an assertion on his part." (Disclosure: CBS is the parent company of CNET.)

Ledgett concedes that opinion is "not unanimous" within the agency. NSA chief Gen. Keith Alexander compares the amnesty suggestion to a hostage-taker asking for amnesty after killing 10 of 50 hostages.

"I think people have to be held accountable for their actions," Alexander said.

Alexander, who has served as director of the NSA since 2005 and is expected to step down next year, said he offered his resignation as a result of the leak.

"I offered to resign," Alexander said. "And they said, 'We don't see a reason that you should resign. We haven't found anybody there doing anything wrong.'"

During the task force's damage assessment, the NSA discovered Snowden has some unusual habits, especially when working at home.

"He would work on the computer with a hood that covered the computer screen and covered his head and shoulders, so that he could work and his girlfriend couldn't see what he was doing," Ledgett said.

One of the task force's fears was that Snowden might have left a bug or virus behind on the NSA's network. So the agency removed all the computers he had access to on the agency's classified and unclassified networks -- including the cables that connected them -- at a cost Ledgett estimated in the tens of millions of dollars.

While the NSA has come under considerable scrutiny and criticism in the wake of Snowden's leaks, Alexander said the agency's surveillance activities are necessary to the nation's defense. In addition to tracking terrorist activities, the NSA has a team monitoring the threat of cyberattack on the nation's critical infrastructure, including the financial system.

"I believe that a foreign nation could impact and destroy major portions of our financial system," Alexander said.

One threat highlighted during the "60 Minutes" visit was dubbed the BIOS Plot, a virus that would attack the firmware that activates the hardware and operating system. Debora Plunkett, who directs cyber defense for the NSA, warns that such an attack would effectively brick computers.

"Think about the impact of that across the entire globe," Plunkett said. "It could literally take down the U.S. economy."

VIDEO: Inside the NSA - 60 Minutes Videos - CBS News

Intr-un alt articol, din 13.12.2013 se spunea asa:

Strike a deal with Snowden?

NSA leak task force leader says a deal with Edward Snowden is worth discussing, but the general who heads the NSA is against any deal.

The NSA officer in charge of assessing the damage done by the Edward Snowden leaks says that, under the right conditions, he would consider a deal with the fugitive in return for the documents he has not leaked yet. But the Army general who heads the NSA says he would not consider any deal for Snowden, who's been charged with espionage for stealing maybe the most potentially damaging trove of national secrets in US history.

The NSA granted the rare interviews and allowed "60 Minutes" cameras into the agency' secure Maryland complex to explain what it does and what it says it doesn't do -- spy on Americans, a misconception it says the leaks have created. During the course of the report, the agency also reveals it discovered a secret computer weapon and discusses it for the first time with John Miller for the report, to be broadcast on "60 Minutes" Sunday, December 15 at 7 p.m. ET/PT.

Snowden has been given asylum in Russia. The former contractor for the NSA is said to have stolen 1.7 million classified documents. "I wouldn't dispute that [figure]," says Rick Ledgett, the NSA officer who heads the task force investigating the leak and subsequent damage. So far, Snowden has leaked thousands of documents, revealing more embarrassing than damaging information. He has said he would come back if granted amnesty. Miller asks Ledgett if he would make a deal. "My personal view is, yes, it's worth having a conversation about," he says, but only if he were absolutely assured the remaining documents are secured. "My bar for those assurances would be very high," he tells Miller, "..more than just an assertion on his part."

It's a view Ledgett says others at the NSA share, but not everyone agrees with, including his boss. "This is analogous to a hostage taker taking 50 people hostage, shooting 10 and then say 'You give me full amnesty and I'll let the other 40 go,'" Gen. Keith Alexander, the Army officer in charge of the NSA. The general believes Snowden should be held accountable and a deal would only set a dangerous precedent for anyone else who would abscond with classified information.

Gen. Alexander says that he offered his resignation in the face of this leak, but says his superiors rejected his offer, telling him it could have happened to anyone in the intelligence community.

Miller also speaks to NSA Information Assurance Director Debora Plunkett, who reveals the discovery by one of her 3,000 analysts of a secret computer weapon that could destroy any computer it infected. She would not name its origin, but "60 Minutes" has learned it was engineered in China. The NSA allowed Plunkett to talk about it for the first time in detail. She says it was called the Bios Plot, for the foundational component, the Bios, that all computers have that performs basic functions like turning on the operating system and activating the hardware. The attack on the Bios would have been disguised as a request for a software update. If the user clicked on it, the virus would turn their computer into "a brick," says Plunkett.

"One of our analysts actually saw that the nation-state had the intention to develop and deliver, to actually use this capability to destroy computers," Plunkett says. If successful, says Plunket, "Think about the impact of that across the entire globe. It could literally take down the U.S. economy," she tells Miller. The NSA quietly worked with computer manufacturers to eliminate this vulnerability.

VIDEO: A deal for Snowden? - 60 Minutes Videos - CBS News

Sursa ambelor articole: cnet.com