dChan
Anonymous ID: 867ac0 Aug. 16, 2018, 9:30 a.m. No.2628165   🗄️.is 🔗kun

NSA and CIA counterterrorism efforts included Xbox Live, Second Life, WoW spying

 

 

Fears that the virtual hang-outs for online gamers could become a hotbed for terrorist activity and planning led both British and American intelligence groups to actively spy on services like Xbox Live, World of Warcraft and Second Life, according to newly disclosed classified documents.

 

The documents, disclosed to The Guardian by former National Security Agency contractor Edward J. Snowden, detail a history of spying with online games that dates back to 2006 and includes not just infiltrating existing online games, but in some cases creating special mobile games explicitly for the purpose of collecting information about the people playing them.

 

The Pentagon's Special Operations Command in 2006 and 2007, working with foreign companies, built mobile games that could be used as "vehicles for intelligence agencies to collect information about the users," according to the joint story by the New York Times, The Guardian and ProPublica.

 

The story outlines the seven year history multiple spy agencies, both in the U.S. and abroad, have had with game spying. The agencies were drawn to online gaming because they were seen as a way that terrorists or criminal networks could communicate secretly, move money, or plot attacks and could be a "target-rich communication network," according to the documents. One NSA document described virtual games as "an opportunity!"

 

None of the documents cite any counterterrorism successes and, according to today's report, none of the myriad of intelligence and gaming experts interviewed for the story knew of any either.

 

Peter W. Singer, Brookings Institution author of Cybersecurity and Cyberwar: What Everyone Needs to Know, seemed to indicate to the reporters that the notion of terrorist groups using gaming as a way to plan attacks was a red herring.

 

"For terror groups looking to keep their communications secret, there are far more effective and easier ways to do so than putting on a troll avatar," he said.

 

The reports do note that Al Qaida "terrorist target selectors," Chinese hackers, an Iranian nuclear scientist, Hizballah and Hamas members have all been found associated with Xbox Live, Second Life, World of Warcraft and other "games and virtual environments."

 

That said, the fact that British and American intelligence groups are spying on in-game communication is troubling.

 

Blizzard officials said they have not granted permission for any agencies to gather intelligence from World of Warcraft. Microsoft declined to comment. Second Life officials did not respond to requests for comment.

 

The leaked documents seem to indicate that the in-game spying has been extensive including one example of British intelligence officers pulling 176,677 lines of data which included communications.

 

The revelation comes after years of public speculation that terrorist groups could be using games to organize.

Anonymous ID: 867ac0 Aug. 16, 2018, 9:33 a.m. No.2628222   🗄️.is 🔗kun

FBI Promotes New Faces to Cyber and IT Positions

 

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) welcomed several new faces to cybersecurity and IT leadership positions on Monday, as FBI Director Christopher Wray announced four appointments to leadership positions.

 

Amy Hess was named executive assistant director of the Criminal, Cyber, Response, and Services Branch. Hess has held multiple leadership positions in the FBI, previously serving as the assistant director of the Operational Technology Division from 2011-2014, and as the executive assistant director of the Science and Technology Branch from 2014-2016.

 

Matt Gorham will move into role of assistant director of the Cyber Division. Most recently in charge of the FBI’s counterterrorism division, Gorham previously served as director of the National Cyber Joint Task Force within the Cyber Division. He will take control of a growing and proactive cybersecurity approach with task forces at all 56 FBI field offices, as deputy assistant director Howard Marshall noted in June at the Akamai Government Forum.

 

Michael Gavin was appointed assistant director of the IT Applications and Data Division. Most recently in charge of the Memphis field office, Gavin brings a history of leadership in multiple FBI positions, including section chief of the Operational Support Section.

 

Finally, Wray named Marlin Ritzman assistant director of the information management division. Ritzman has served as the assault team leader for the FBI’s Hostage Rescue Team, chief of the Transnational Organized Crime-Western Hemisphere section within the agency, and most recently as the head of the Anchorage field office.