The adversarial threat posed by the NSA to the integrity of the internet

Abstract

In 2013, Edward Snowden, a NSA Contractor leaked thousands of highly classified documents about the activities of the USA's National Security Agency (NSA) and its foreign intelligence partners known as the “Five Eyes” [1]. The documents revealed secret programs about the NSA's mass bulk collection of phone, internet and communications traffic as well as how the NSA and its partners are working to sabotage and weaken encryption algorithms and the security protocols used to secure the internet. This paper presents some of the programs that were revealed as well as the rationale and legislation behind these programs from a global perspective. Mass surveillance is not only done by the Five Eyes partners but also by many other countries who pay private companies to provide them with tools to spy, censor and repress their own citizens [2]. In order to assess the potential harm and the security implications of mass surveillance, this paper looks at how state level actors around the world are conducting surveillance which raise broader issues about internet security such as how common weaknesses are being exploited by both intelligence agencies and criminals. This paper will also explore various technologies and techniques that can be used by both individuals and companies to secure themselves against mass surveillance.