Hong Kong (CNN) -- U.S. intelligence agents have
been hacking computer networks around the world for years, apparently
targeting fat data pipes that push immense amounts of data around the
Internet, NSA leaker Edward Snowden told the South China Morning Post on Wednesday.
Among some 61,000
reported targets of the National Security Agency, Snowden said, are
thousands of computers in China -- which U.S. officials have
increasingly criticized as the source of thousands of attacks on U.S.
military and commercial networks. China has denied such attacks.
The Morning Post said it had seen documents provided by Snowden but was unable
to verify their authenticity. The English-language news agency, which
operates in Hong Kong, also said it was unable to independently verify
allegations of U.S. hacking of networks in Hong Kong and mainland China
since 2009.
Snowden told the paper
that some of the targets included the Chinese University of Hong Kong,
public officials and students. The documents also "point to hacking
activity by the NSA against mainland targets," the newspaper reported.
The claims came just days
after U.S. President Barack Obama pressed Chinese President Xi Jinping
to address cyberattacks emanating from China that Obama described as
"direct theft of United States property."
Snowden's allegations
appear to give weight to claims by some Chinese government officials
that the country has been a victim of similar hacking efforts coming
from the United States.
His claims came as Gen.
Keith Alexander, the National Security Agency chief, testified at a U.S.
Senate hearing that the country's cyberinfrastructure, including
telephones and computer networks, is somewhat vulnerable to attack.
On a scale of one to 10,
"our critical infrastructure's preparedness to withstand a destructive
cyberattack is about a three, based on my experience," he said.
In the Morning Post
interview -- published one week after the British newspaper The Guardian
revealed the first leaks attributed to Snowden -- he claimed the agency
he once worked for as a contractor typically targets high-bandwidth
data lines that connect Internet nodes located around the world.
"We hack network
backbones -- like huge Internet routers, basically -- that give us
access to the communications of hundreds of thousands of computers
without having to hack every single one," the newspaper quoted him as
saying.
A "backbone" is part of
the inner workings of a computer network that links different parts of
that network. It is used to deliver data from one part of the network to
another and, as such, could expose data from multiple computers if
hacked.
'Trying to bully'
Snowden, 29, worked for
the Booz Allen Hamilton computer consulting firm until Monday, when he
was fired after documents he provided to journalists revealed the
existence of secret programs to collect records of domestic telephone
calls in the United States and the Internet activity of overseas
residents.
While he has not been
charged, the FBI is conducting an investigation into the leaks, and he
has told The Guardian that he expects the United States will try to
prosecute him.
Snowden told the Morning
Post that he felt U.S. officials were pressuring his family and also
accused them of "trying to bully" Hong Kong into extraditing him to
prevent the release of more damaging information.
He vowed to resist
extradition efforts if it comes to that, saying he "would rather stay
and fight the United States government in the courts, because I have
faith in Hong Kong's rule of law."
"My intention is to ask
the courts and people of Hong Kong to decide my fate," the South China
Morning Post quoted Snowden as saying. "I have been given no reason to
doubt your system.''
But Hong Kong lawmaker
Regina Ip, a former secretary of security for the territory, said
Tuesday that while any extradition process could take months, Snowden
isn't necessarily beyond the reach of the United States.
"If he thought there was
a legal vacuum in Hong Kong which renders him safe from U.S.
jurisdiction, that is unlikely to be the case," she said.
The newspaper said
Snowden has been hiding in undisclosed locations inside the
semi-autonomous Chinese territory since checking out of his hotel room
Monday -- a day after he revealed his identity in an interview with The
Guardian.
Snowden told the Morning Post he is not trying to evade U.S. authorities.
"People who think I made
a mistake in picking Hong Kong as a location misunderstand my
intentions," the newspaper quoted him as saying. "I am not here to hide
from justice; I am here to reveal criminality."
The NSA and the National Intelligence director did not immediately respond to a CNN request for comment.
Asked during a media
briefing on Wednesday for comment on Snowden's latest claims, U.S. State
Department spokeswoman Jennifer Psaki declined. She said she had not
seen the latest Morning Post report.
On the defensive
The revelations have
renewed debate over surveillance in the United States and overseas in
the name of fighting terrorism, with supporters saying the programs
revealed by Snowden are legal and have helped stop terror plots. Civil
liberties advocates, however, call the measures dangerous and
unacceptable intrusions.
Such criticisms have put
Obama and his allies on the issue -- both Democrats and Republicans --
on the defensive against mounting criticisms from a similarly bipartisan
group of critics demanding changes to rein in the programs.
There also is a sharp division among Americans over the issue.
A Gallup poll released Wednesday
found that 44% of Americans believe Snowden did the right thing by
releasing details about the classified surveillance programs, while 42%
said it was wrong and 14% said they were unsure.
The poll for that question had a 6% margin of error.
It also found that more
Americans disapprove than approve of the government's surveillance
programs, 53% to 37%. Ten percent had no opinion.
The poll for that question had a 4% margin of error.
Those differences were
on display Wednesday when Alexander, the director of the National
Security Agency, testified at a hearing into cybersecurity technology
and civil liberties.
Officials have been unable to explain controversial data mining programs because they have been classified, Alexander testified.
But Alexander rejected the Snowden's claim that the NSA could tap into any American's phone or computer.
"I know of no way to do that," Alexander said.
But he testified that phone records obtained by the government helped prevent "dozens" of terrorist events.
He would not discuss
disrupted plots broadly, saying they were classified. But he did say
federal data mining appeared to play a role in helping to disrupt a plot
in recent years to attack the New York subway system.
Alexander said
information developed overseas was passed along to the FBI, which he
said was able to identify eventual suspect Najibullah Zazi in Colorado
and ultimately uncover a plot. Zazi pleaded guilty to terror-related
charges in 2010.
While not on the roster
for Wednesday's hearing, another administration official in the
spotlight is Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, whom
Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden has singled out for how he answered questions
about the telephone surveillance program in March.
In March, Wyden asked
Clapper whether the NSA collects "any type of data at all on millions or
hundreds of millions of Americans?"
"No sir," Clapper said.
On Saturday, Clapper told NBC News that he answered in the "most truthful or least most untruthful manner" possible.
Clapper told NBC that he had interpreted "collection" to mean actually examining the materials gathered by the NSA.
He previously told the
National Journal he had meant that "the NSA does not voyeuristically
pore through U.S. citizens' e-mails," but he did not mention e-mails at
the hearing.
EU questions
Fallout over revelations
about the NSA's intelligence-gathering has reached the European Union's
governing body, where Vice President Viviane Reding raised concerns
that the United States may have targeted some of its citizens.
Reding said she plans to raise the issue during a meeting Friday with U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder.
"The respect for
fundamental rights and the rule of law are the foundations of the
EU-U.S. relationship. This common understanding has been, and must
remain, the basis of cooperation between us in the area of Justice," Reding, the EU commissioner for justice, said Wednesday.
"Trust that the rule of
law will be respected is also essential to the stability and growth of
the digital economy, including transatlantic business. This is of
paramount importance for individuals and companies alike."
source:http://edition.cnn.com/2013/06/12/politics/nsa-leak/index.html?hpt=hp_t2
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