A NSA spying tool is configured to snoop on an array of privacy programs used by journalists and dissidents, according to an analysis of never-before-seen code leaked by an unknown source. <\/p>\n
The code, published as part of investigation by two German broadcasters last week, contains tracking specifications for XKeyScore, a powerful NSA program that collects and sorts intercepted data. <\/p>\n
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XKeyScore came to light in documents leaked by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, but some observers believe the latest information -- which adds greater detail on how the agency monitors people trying to protect their privacy online -- may have not come from the documents he passed to journalists. <\/p>\n
The broadcasters, Norddeutscher Rundfunk and Westdeutscher Rundfunk, did not reveal their source for the code but claimed in a report that former NSA employees and experts \"are convinced that the same code or similar code is still in use today,\" <\/p>\n
The report describes how the code enables XKeyScore to track users connected to The Onion Router, known as TOR, a network that encrypts data traffic through random servers in order to obscure identification of a web surfer. <\/p>\n
TOR, a project initially started by the U.S. Navy, is considered a critical privacy enhancing tool and one that has hampered NSA surveillance in the past. <\/p>\n
The report contends the NSA is monitoring two TOR servers in Germany. One is run by Sebastian Hahn, a 28-year-old computer science student at the University of Erlangen. The server, known as a Directory Authority, a critical part of TOR's infrastructure, supplies a list of relays in the network to computers connecting to the network. <\/p>\n
The NSA's collection of metadata about people connecting to the server puts those people at risk, the report quoted Hahn as saying. <\/p>\n
The NSA also tracks the use of non-public TOR relays, which are supplied to users upon request in countries known to actively block TOR relays, such as in China and Iran, the report said. <\/p>\n
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