NSA allegedly poses as Facebook to help spread its malware

The NSA tricked Facebook users and installed malware on PCs and devices to check hard drive contents.

Published
Updated
40 seconds read time

The National Security Agency (NSA) reportedly wants to infect millions of computers with malware, and the TURBINE program is based on hacking routers, impersonating Facebook, and other shady practices. Not surprisingly, the information was made public based on revelations released by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden.

NSA allegedly poses as Facebook to help spread its malware | TweakTown.com

The NSA posed as a fake Facebook server, and successfully infected a user's computer to gain access to stored files on a HDD, according to a report posted on The Intercept. Previously, the NSA would use this tactic for a small number of select targets that couldn't be tracked with regular wiretaps, but greatly expanded use over the past 10 years.

Security experts are disheartened by yet another data snooping case from the NSA, potentially opening up additional security issues by intentionally infecting computers with malware.

The federal government already has a fickle relationship with Silicon Valley and other tech companies - and a report of NSA officials trying to impersonate Facebook to help spread malware will not be well received.

An experienced tech journalist and marketing specialist, Michael joins TweakTown to cover everything from cars & electric vehicles to solar and green energy topics. A former Staff Writer at DailyTech, Michael is now the Cars & Electric Vehicles News Reporter and will contribute news stories on a daily basis. In addition to contributing here, Michael also runs his own tech blog, AlamedaTech.com, while he looks to remain busy in the tech world.

Newsletter Subscription

Related Tags