A team of nine journalists, including Jacob Appelbaum and Laura Poitras, have just published another massive collection of leaked documents from Edward Snowden. The classified documents were published in Der Spiegel magazine, and show that the National Security Agency (NSA) and its allies are methodically preparing for future wars waged over the internet. 
Der Spiegel reports that intelligence agencies have the ability to infiltrate and disable computer networks – which gives them the ability to disrupt essential utilities and other infrastructure. And the NSA and GCHQ think they are so far ahead of everyone else, they laugh about it.
We already know that the US is already capable of launching sophisticated cyber attacks that can cause major material damage to its enemies. A virus known as Stuxnet, discovered in 2010, was developed as part of a joint operation between the US and Israel to wreak havoc on Iran's nuclear facilities, destroying many of the country's nuclear centrifuges. Since then, of course, the NSA has boasted about its newest and most powerful cyber weapons.
New documents published by Der Spiegel show that the NSA’s surveillance programs are the foundation of its efforts to create sophisticated digital weapons. One of the main themes in the newly leaked documents involves the Five Eyes agency’s ability to exploit the methods of U.S. adversaries to “steal their tools, their designs, and their targets.” These impressive capabilities are what the NSA calls “fourth party collection.”
The success of the fourth party collection appears to be such a success that NSA and GCHQ agents seem to be having fun with it through top-secret slides. In fact, in an NSA presentation titled “fourth party opportunities,” the first slide mentions Daniel Day-Lewis’ famous line “I drink your milkshake” from the 2007 film There Will Be Blood. Der Spiegel reports that an NSA unit was able to detect a Chinese attack on the Defense Department and secretly “listen” to future Chinese espionage efforts, including a digital infiltration of the United Nations.
NSA Docs on Fourth Party Access (PDF)
- Description of an NSA employee on fifth party access / When the targeted fourth party has someone under surveillance who puts others under surveillance
- 4th party collection / Taking advantage of non-partner computer network exploitation activity
- Combination of offensive and defensive missions / How fourth-party missions are being performed
- Overview of the TRANSGRESSION program to analyze and exploit foreign CNA/CNE exploits
- NSA example SNOWGLOBE, in which a suspected French government trojan is analyzed to find out if it can be helpful for own interests
- NSA fourth party access / “I drink your milkshake”
- NSA Program TUTELAGE to instrumentalize third party attack tools
- Codename BYZANTINE HADES / NSA research on the targets of Chinese network exploitation tools, the targets and actors
- CSEC document on the handling of existing trojans when trojanizing computers
- Analysis of Chinese methods and performed actions in the context of computer network exploitation
In another presentation, GCHQ details its efforts to exploit mobile apps using a tool called “BADASS.” With this tool, the agency has the ability to harvest personal information from metadata sent between users’ devices to advertising networks and analytics. This data is supposed to contain no personally identifiable information. But a slide titled “Abusing BADASS for Fun and Profit” boasts: “We know how bad you are at Angry Birds.”.
NSA Docs on Botnet Takeovers (PDF)
In the rest of the investigation, Der Spiegel suggests that US and UK intelligence agencies are behaving as one would expect in a Cold War counterintelligence thriller starring Brad Pitt.
